Just Another Day
by Technocidal Maniac
Summary: It seemed like any other day, but then the dead rose from their graves and began to ruin everything. Now I'm smack in the middle of things and I have to get the hell out.
1. In the Beginning

Chapter 1: Just another day...

It felt like it was just another day. Wake up, get dressed, got to school, eat and sleep. At least, most of it was. It started off as average as average could get. I woke up to my alarm at 5:30 in the morning, went downstairs and turned on the TV. I set it to the local news and went about my usual morning rituals of bathing and making breakfast.

I set my plate down on the coffee table in front of me and started to watch the news, half staring at my phone, checking for Facebook updates. I bit into my bagel and groaned as cream cheese fell out the other side onto the carpet. I just sighed and went to get a paper towel as the news finally came on after a mix of local and Cablevision commercials ceased.

I missed the first few seconds of the report but it didn't take much thinking to figure out that they were reporting on another murder out East. "Police found the body only a few hours ago along Montauk Highway." Said a female anchor about 40 years old, "The autopsy report concludes that the man appeared to be severely beaten before being shot in the head. Fortunately the police found a wallet on him and were able to identify the man but are unwilling to share the identity." Almost immediately another female anchor started to talk about the weather and the camera switched to a man in his mid-thirties who elaborated on the weather for the next week.

Suddenly there came the sound of a door opening coming from upstairs. The sound of footsteps continued down the creaky stairs until a figure appeared in the hallway.

"Good morning mom!" I said cheerily.

"Good morning honey." She said, yawning. "Anything you forgot, anything for me to sign?" she said, bringing up the countless times I forgot some paper or homework for school. Usually, it involved her signing it.

"No, not today. Finished it all in school." I said nonchalantly.

"Okay then, Seany-Bear." She said with a smile and walked into the kitchen and started to make coffee. I glanced at the clock and took note that it was 6:15, giving me 5 minutes to get ready for the bus. I put on my black zip-up hoodie, my absolute favorite article of clothing, slipped on my old sneakers and slung my backpack around my back and set off for the door, double checking if my phone was on vibrate as I reached for my headphones.

"Love you mom!" I half shouted to her as I left for the bus stop.

"Love you too Seany!" She said as she walked into the living room and gave me a hug.

I put my ear buds in my ears and called my dad as I usually do in the morning. He greeted me with a cheery hello and we proceeded to talk about how bad the weather was. It was humid, rainy, and snow still was on the ground from the apocalyptic snow storms we had over a month and a half ago. The conversation eventually drifted to the corpse they found out East.

"Yeah, a bullet in his head, really decomposed, some nasty stuff" I said, recalling the news report. "Weren't there others similar to it over the last few weeks? Since the last snow storm?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." He said. A nagging feeling in the back of my head made me consider asking where they were but the urge to finish the conversation and continue to the bus stop was a bit more pressing.

"Anyways, I'll see you on Friday." I said, hoping to wind down the conversation, "Love you!"

"Miss you buddy, bye!" He said before I heard the beeping of a dead line on the other end. I turned my phone to my face and picked out one of my playlists to listen to on the way to school. Time seemed to become irrelevant until the bus came, lost in my own thoughts of life, the world, and how I'll spend the afternoon. I stepped on the bus noticing the lack of people. Literally, only me and two other people on the bus.

I asked the bus driver, Maureen, about the situation and she just shrugged and said she didn't know. I actually just noticed that one of my longest friends, Angie, wasn't there. 'Geez, even Angie isn't here! What the Hell's going on?' I thought to myself. The bus pulled away and then I saw a person step out of her house. It seemed about her height and width but she rarely missed the bus and when she did she didn't bother to go outside.

We continued until the next stop about a quarter of a mile down the road but nobody was there. Then we went to the next few stops and a few people were actually there and got on the bus. The bus continued until we made it to what I always thought was the town center and there were no cars or people around. "Jesus Christ... Where is everyone?" I said quietly to myself.

The bus continued to school and when the bus pulled into the parking lot and my day continued as usual but with a distinct lack of people. I made it to Geometry and I put my head down as soon as the bell rang. My teacher continued as usual, kids heckling her as she tried to teach us about making proofs with triangles and whatnot.

Second period came and I went to my Media class. On a good day, there were only a handful of us there but today, even the teacher wasn't there. It was me and a substitute teacher. The 39 minutes passed awkwardly and uneventfully with me browsing the news websites that appeared in the browser window. "4 DEAD FOUND ON LONG ISLAND BEACH" "MISSING PEOPLE REPORTS SKYROCKET" These and many other headlines similar to it popped out to me.

Third period rolled around and I headed across the school to Biology. I sat down in my seat just after the bell rang and my Bio teacher, Mr. Kelly, told the few of us there, about seven to ten, to copy down the two vocabulary words and copy the notes on the SmartBoard. The first ten minutes of class passed uneventfully until one of the girls got up and looked out of one of the large windows along the right side of the class and screamed.

Needless to say, everyone turned to her and most of us went to the window. What we saw changed everything. A mob of at least fifty people, all wearing ragged clothing covered in what HAD to be blood were approaching the school en masse from the street. From all of the movies I've seen, books I've read, and everything I've seen online, I could obviously tell what they were and then every single piece of the puzzle came together. I'm in the middle of the fucking zombie apocalypse!

A/N: So that's my first chapter of my first fanfic. Read, review and subscribe. I'll be updating kind of irregularly though. It is my FIRST fanfic after all. And point out any mistakes, just in case I missed a few!

**EDIT**: Made a few changes to neaten things up.


	2. The Engine Starts

A/N: Second chapter! Read, review, and subscribe! Or not, it's a free country. But aside from my begging for more attention, sorry for taking FOREVER to make a second chapter. All it took was a little inspiration from some quality time on Omegle. Suddenly, BOOM. Inspiration.

I can't tell you what happened after that. I just remember running, screams, and me finding myself armed with a razor at the other end of the school. Sweating heavily and gripped by panic, I went into my Media Productions classroom. I glanced into the side rooms and in between the rows of computers, not seeing anything.

Pulling up a chair and sitting down in it I sighed heavily. "The shit hit the fan didn't it?" I said to myself.

"Oh yes it did." Said a female voice from the other end of the classroom.

"GAH! Jesus _Christ _you just scared the shit out of me!"

"I do what I can." The mysterious voice turned out to be Dannie, possibly my hottest friends that just so happened to be a girl. She walked out from behind the giant green screen in the far end of the room. "What brings you here?"

"Gee, maybe it's all the _zombies_! I don't have a clue! And when did you get so confident during the GOD DAMNED APOCALYPSE?"

"Whoa, seriously Sean, calm down, okay? I was just trying to-"

"CALM DOWN? YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN? THERE ARE HUNDREDS, LITERALLY FUCKING MILLIONS OF ZOMBIES OUT THERE AND YOU WANT ME TO _CALM DOWN?_ WE COULD BE KILLED ANY-" I stopped. Mainly for two reasons. One, Dannie was staring at me, horrified with my outburst. And second, there was a bang from the door. "Oh God, not this. Not _now_."

You know those people you just see often but never speak to? Just walk by and continue on with your day. Yeah, well, one of them was at the door. More like smashing the door. Actually, more like smashing the thin glass plate that separated it from us. He was definitely a student. No self-respecting teacher would wear a backwards hat, over-sized hoodie, and skinny jeans hanging below the waist by a colorful plastic belt. He looked at me with cold, bloody eyes. He barred his teeth and showed little bits of flesh in between his teeth and a missing piece of flesh from his neck.

He opened his mouth and let out a long, haunting moan. The scene will stick with me for years. Dannie looking terrified at me and the zombie, me standing there paralyzed with shock, and another zombie right behind the original one. But, this one I recognized. It was Rachel, the one girl I couldn't help but antagonize in Geometry. I suppose I felt bad. I felt _really_ bad. This was that ditzy girl I couldn't stop poking and prodding with various insults, and now I could never make fun of her again because she's right here trying to eat me. Ferally scratching in my direction. What a tragedy.

More zombies came and it soon became obvious that we had to go. Now.

"Okay Dannie, you wont believe how much thought I put into this scenario during school. But now that its actually happening, well, I'm pulling a blank."

"Well what do we do?" She said with alarm present in her voice. I don't blame her. Five zombies at the door and absolutely no idea what to do. All I could imagine was that things were going to remain this way for years, maybe decades. Maybe even until the end of the century.

"Alrighty, I'll open the back door over here and we run into the parking lot. From the 2600's I only saw about fifty to a hundred of them. Luckily they're the slow and stupid kind. Romero kind. We can run, for a house, for a car, for whatever we can find. Ready?" I had my hand on the back doors handle. Pictures and measurements of the teachers parking lot ran through my head. Sidewalk, asphalt, divider, asphalt, divider, cars. Easy short run. But there had to be at least 2500 other kids with the same idea. _RUN_.

"Okay, I think I can do this. But Sean, what if one of them is out there?"

"Well," I rummaged through a drawer, pulling out another razor we use for cutting plastic and such, a roller to smooth stuff out, and a pair of scissors, "use these." As soon as the words fell out of my mouth the now ten zombies broke through the door. "OkayfuckthisletsGOGOGO!"

The light of the sun was a little bright but thankfully the door was placed just in the right position to blind anyone leaving before noon. Noon. What time was it? _Not now._ Me and Dannie took off for the parking lot. I could see a mass of over 150 zombies at each entrance. Suddenly, there was a crash of glass and both crowds disappeared into the school. "Oh my god... Oh my fucking god..." I stood stupefied as I heard screaming and moaning mixed together into a horrible musical of death and carnage. Soon, people were jumping out of windows, zombies in tow. Some even jumped from the second story and disappeared into the foliage. "Oh my god!"

"SEAN! Come ON! I found a car that's open we can go!" I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was my brain dumping every little fact about life. Literally pouring out of my head as screams, blood, and death filled it. "Sean we have to go NOW!"

"O-okay, I'll-I'll get going." Walking between the teachers cars was a new experience for me. Each car was perfect and pristine. Covered in the early morning mist like nothing ever happened. Waiting for their owners to return. Something that may never happen.

Dannie took me to a mid-sized sedan. I think it was a Toyota or a Honda, regardless we got in. Dumbass left the keys in there and Dannie started up the car. "You know I don't have my license right?"

"Dannie, I couldn't care less. Kick this fucking thing into high gear and drive. Where? I don't know. When? Now would be a _great_ time! Why? Because there's a fucking zombie right there!" As the words left my mouth the zombie slammed his fists on the car. Dannie panicked and stomped on the gas pedal, putting him under the car. "_Smooth moves_." I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

"Psh, shut up." The car lurched forward and stopped. Lurched again and stopped.

"Dannie, haven't you ever driven before?"

"Well I _told_ you I didn't have a license!"

"Okay whatever. I drive now. At least _I_ have some experience."

"I'm sure you do, Sean, I'm sure you do." She said, full of spite.

We got out and I moved around the front of the car as she moved around the back. I sat down in the drivers seat and she took the passenger. I put on my seatbelt by a mix of habit and irony. "Safety first, eh?"

"Shut up."

"Whatever." I drove, awkwardly, out of the teacher parking lot and into the bus parking lot. There were 20 zombies or so meandering about. _Traffic cones._ I started to drive between them to try and tone my skill. After maneuvering around 17 "cones" I over-steered and drove onto the curb leading to the school. Then someone, non infected, totally not covered in blood, ran out. I honked my horn and they ran to the car.

"Holy shit. Dannie it's Eric!" It really was. Non-bitten, non-bleeding, non-cannibal Eric!

"OH MY FUCKING GOD WHATS GOING ON?" Eric screamed into my ear.

"Zombie apocalypse Eric, yeah, it's fucking happening."

"Where are we going?" Dannie said.

"Anywhere really. But I need to stop at the Middle School. There's something I need to check up on."


	3. And the Wheels Roll

_A/N: So here's chapter 3! Brought to you by Spellcheck. And of course I don't own Dawn of the Dead or the Zombie Survival Guide. I would have no idea what to do with them if I did anyways._

The roads were the worst. That's what became more than obvious to me as I drove the car along the long windy road that lead to the main-ish road, dodging car wrecks and zombies alike. "Dannie, turn on the radio. Check BLI first. Then try the AM." I dodged a flaming wreck of an SUV surrounded by the undead.

"Why BLI? They're an FM station!"

"BLI also does news reports. And besides, we could use some loud pop music to aid our drive."

"Alright." Dannie pressed a few buttons and static entered the car from a multitude of speakers. A few scattered bits sounded like music, some screams. But after a few seconds a voice came through plain and clear.

"...total-nage here in Manhat-olice setting up barricades to keep the inf-inside Manhattan. If you're just getting tuning in, the police have barricaded Manhattan Island from the outside in order to prevent the-from getting out." Then the radio cut out entirely.

"Well that sucks." I said sardonically. Fiddling with the knobs, Dannie just shrugged. "No more radio then."

"Alright," Eric interjected, "what the Hell is going on!" I swerved around another wreck. Turning on to the road that lead to the middle school.

"Well, We're going to the middle school. I need to see if my little brother's alright." I explained. It sounds cliché if it were a movie and possibly suicidal according to the Zombie Survival Guide but I couldn't rest at this stage of the game without knowing if the loved one closest to my position was dead. _Or undead. No. He isn't. He probably ran somewhere safe. He's not much of an idiot._

The car bumbled down the road past some woods, a few houses with broken doors and a sod field. Then I saw the middle school in all of its flaming glory.

_Flaming? Yes, on fire._

Smoke bellowed from the windows and the cafeteria doors were half open but all I would see was more smoke. I kept driving onwards to the flaming pyre of 5th and 6th grade. The parking lot was packed with busses and I barely maneuvered up to the front doors.

"Oh thank God an opening!" I completely ignored my friends and ran in through the doors. There were a few undead down the hall but the flames were nowhere to be seen. Only smoke from the hallway leading to the cafeteria. I took that as a sign of safety for running up the stairs to my little brothers classroom.

Someone must've been intoxicated when they designed the middle school. Instead of rooms, there were large sections separated by flimsy movable walls. I turned left and looked into the first room. There I saw the teacher hunched over a body. No one I recognized fortunately.

The next room held no surprises either. But here a group of zombified students had the teacher down and were eating him. I would've been laughing at the sheer irony of the situation if I wasn't so scared witless. The third room was empty except for a make-shift desk fort at the far end. There was chewing sound coming from behind it along with moaning so it didn't take much for me to ignore that one. The fourth room however, had someone on the ground. My little brother.

"Oh my god Casey! Are you okay?" What a stupid question, he was on the ground in a flaming zombie-infested middle school. What did I expect? A nice warm smile and everything back to normal? Hell no.

I reached for him and he grabbed my arm and pulled me down. He was on top of me and tried to bite my neck. Gnawing at the air just around my jugular. _Fucking figures._ I got a hand under his neck and held him at bay long enough to grab my razor from school.

Without much of a thought I jammed the razor through the roof of his mouth through his nasal cavity and into the brain, effectively killing him. I lied there for what seemed like hours as the mutilated corpse of what was my brother fell limp and rolled onto the floor next to me.

Dannie and Eric ran in not long after as the flames licked ever closer. They kept screaming at me to run. I didn't want to run now. I didn't want to go. I wanted to lay down and go to sleep. Go to sleep and wake up from this. Wake up in an empty room and open a door back to reality. I shut my eyes hard and soon I couldn't hear anything. No screaming. No fire alarm. No nothing.

When I opened my eyes I was in my bed back home. The clock read 5:30.

I looked around. Its my room. Panicked, I looked across the room to see my little brother sleeping soundly. I got up and walked downstairs. As I rounded the stairs into the living room I stopped. I saw nothing. Just blackness. I turned on my phone to illuminate the room but nothing appeared. I turned around and walked into more darkness. I looked down and realized I was in total darkness. Phone or not.

I walked forward and soon I felt warmth. Really warm warmth. Hot, even. Really hot.

I opened my eyes to see fire. Lots of it. A wall of fire. A wall of fire covered in drawings and projects. I rolled over to see glassy eyes staring at me back entirely lifeless. I couldn't recognize the person.

I stood up and walked outside through the front door. I saw a girl and a boy in a car screaming at each other. I walked over and they looked at me and pulled me in. As I fell onto the felt seats I thought to myself, _This isn't so bad. _And fell into a peaceful sleep.

_A/N Chapter 3 everyone! A little review or something would really help my morale here. I **did** just kill a little kid._


	4. Silent Library

A/N: So here's chapter 4! And once again I don't own anything copyrighted. Reviews are always appreciated! My life is a hollow shell without others approval.

I didn't sleep long. When I came to, we were only at the end of the roadway out of the middle school. I sat up and felt light headed. "What the fuck just happened?" I asked. My friends just looked back at me and Dannie kept driving. Eric merely shrugged and turned back towards the road. "Can I drive?"

"You just ran into a burning building and killed a zombie kid. Plus you passed out. I think you need a nap instead." Eric really had a grasp on the situation.

"Wait, I know where were going! The library's up ahead to the left. Then the Wal-Mart. We could go to Wal-Mart! They have clothes, food, toys, and... hundreds of other people thought the same thing right?"

"Well, we could stop at the library." Dannie suggested.

"Great idea. It might have a safe room. Or at least a place to chill out and recollect what the hell's happening. The doors there seem sturdy enough and plenty of hallways leading to God knows where to hide in. And who else would go to the library during the apocalypse?" It seemed like a good idea.

Dannie drove to the library. The doors were closed and there didn't seem to be any sign of the undead. But I could hear a cacophony of screams and moans coming just down the road. Probably from Wal-Mart.

"I'll stay here just in case something happens, okay?" Eric moved to the drivers seat and put the car in idle.

"Alright. We'll try not to get bit." I said sarcastically as me and Dannie went inside.

The doors slid open after a good tug and me and Dannie walked inside. The place was pristine except for a pile of books spilled across the floor. I looked at Dannie and she knew what I meant. There must be at least two zombies here. We walked left into the DVD section. No zombies or anything good in the aisles and nothing behind the desk. But there was a door leading to the upper levels.

"Lets clear the main floor first." I suggested

"Okay. It'll be safer that way anyway."

We moved behind the main counter in search of anything. Behind one of the shelves was a body. A police officer. He had a nice hole in the back of his head so he should be dead. I leaned closer and he really was dead. His gray brains were pulp.

I knew what this meant. Dead cop. Cops have guns. Gun. Gun for me. I poked him to make doubly sure he was in fact dead. Thankfully he was. I searched around for a gun and magazines. I found an average pistol, 9mm I guess. I know nothing about guns but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to it.

I checked the gun for all the buttons and switches and found the safety, the button that releases the ammo, and held it in my hand. I showed Dannie and we moved into the childrens section with a bit more confidence. I moved between the aisles and saw nothing. Dannie went behind the counter and found a keycard. I went over to the computers and checked every single one. All were broken or dead.

Then I finally remembered. My phone had plenty of battery power last I checked and worked perfectly fine. I reached into my pocket and with a sigh of relief I found it.

"Dannie! My phone! I can check Facebook and," Dannie shot me a look of pure 'Not the time, Sean.', "So _no_ on that whole Facebook thing." I didn't really care what she thought, I checked anyway. It was only 9:35 and there were hundreds of posts about loved ones and cries for help. I noticed most asked for help at the high school. Room 1510, room 1307, room 2616, the list goes on.

"Sean! There's a zombie right here!" I stopped immediately and grabbed for the gun. I pulled it up and looked around for the zombie. Dannie came running over and a woman of about forty years with a chunk of flesh missing form her face came into view. She staggered closer and I noticed that she was much more decomposed and bloody than the others I faced. She must've been bitten a while ago.

I walked up to her and pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead. "Goodnight," the shot rang out in the library and I could here more moans coming from the main book section of the library. Me and Dannie took the hint and moved back into the main room and headed into the adult book section. I saw another cop with a gun. I walked up to him too and shot him between the eyes. Dannie took his gun and I gave her a 5-second run down on it.

Then another zombie appeared. This one was barely 5-years old. "Jesus Christ." I ddin't want to shoot her but I had to. I knew she was dead but... she was just a kid. I definitely hesitated for a few seconds but I did what I had to do and shot her.

We searched the rest of the library and didn't find anything. We went outside and Eric was there and there still weren't any zombies. I guess Wal-Mart must have some loud people there. I could still hear the macabre orchestra of screams and moans coming from there. Eric turned off the car and came inside. Me and Dannie kept our guns and we all got nice night sticks from a glass case upstairs. We voted to stay here for the rest of the day and formulate a plan. The electricity was still on anyways.

We gathered bookshelves and carts to barricade every door leading upstairs and had a nice sit-down in a boardroom. We walked about, admiring the cold war architecture and color schemes until Eric broke the silence. "So what do we do?"

"Well," I sat up in my chair, "we have a zombie apocalypse on our hands. I say we wait here and hunker down for a few days to make a plan and wait for the chaos to die down. The Zombie Sur... they must have it here. It should be in the young adult section. Oh whatever. We need to stay here until the population is thinned. As somber as it sounds we need to lay low especially now. A _lot_ of people are going to die soon. _A LOT_. And we need to stay hidden. It could get hard but there has to be both food and something here to do. No one would think to ransack a library. But that Wal-Mart over there could be... problematic."

A dark cloud came over our heads. Here we are, a ragtag group of teenagers trying to survive the apocalypse. Didn't seem like we had a chance really. At least I didn't think so. We spent our first day consoling each other over the loss of loved ones and our lives. We all tried to call our parents a few times but the calls never got through. No text messages either. The internet worked though. I sent ten emails to both my parents trying desperately to contact them. That night, I couldn't sleep. I kept hearing the screams of people who thought Wal-Mart was a good idea and met their gruesome end at the hands of everyone else who thought the same thing. A few gunshots and moans later and there was only car alarms and the occasional boom in the distance. No zombies found us but there were a few close calls.

Tomorrow, we have to go and get food. We only had a few bags of chips and water. Not enough for a week in hiding.

A/N: Two chapters in one day? Preposterous! But it happened because I really had a lot to write. Reviews are a really nice thing.


	5. Were not in Zombieland anymore

A/N: Wow, chapter 5! Five whole chapters. Well, I released the last three within one week so there is certainly going to be a bit of a hiatus coming up. I mean, I wrote two within one day. This is the third one tonight! I'm on a roll!

My alarm went off at 5:30 AM. I quickly shut it off as fast as I could. I still expected to be in a comfy bed and just drag on and go to school. But today I woke up in a boardroom in the library with my friends.

It all came back quickly. The bus, that girl in Biology, me and Dannie in my Media classroom, and Casey. He's dead. He's really dead. I stood up and looked out the window. Still dark. Thankfully the screaming stopped. Mostly. I don't want to think about it but I'm in reality right now. I really hate to admit it but I'm having the time of my life. New, exciting, mysterious. It's a sick thought but its true. I always thought I'd love the zombie apocalypse. But then I would always tell myself about how bad it would be with death all around you. But I was genuinely having fun now.

I didn't want to be awake now. I just sat back down, readjusted myself and went back to sleep. When I woke up, it was 9:00 AM. That's better, I thought. Dannie was up and about the library's top floor looking for something.

"Good morning Dannie, What're you looking for?"

"A flashlight, we could've used one last night. Plus the lights could go out any second so a little light would be good."

"Speaking of which, we need to make a plan. I say we drive West towards Manhattan and hop a boat to one of the islands. Governor's Island, Ellis Island, Liberty Island, it doesn't matter. They all seem perfect for this. No beaches, all cement wall, plus it who the Hell would go to a tourist attraction during the zombie apocalypse? But That's how we roll, unorthodox."

"Seriously Sean, we need to think of something. Get off Long Island, go somewhere safe and survive this. But it seems hopeless in the long run."

"Come on Dannie, we need to survive this. We were learning about the Holocaust in Global and it certainly seemed hopeless for them to survive. But they did, a lot longer than the Nazis did. So lets survive to just shove it in the undeads' faces! Besides, if you, me, or Eric die then how could we function? We make a great team. Even only after our first day in this zombified earth I can tell we can do something great."

We walked around the library, occasionally peaking out the window for any threats. Nothing so far.

"Look," I started, "we need food. There's a Wal-Mart next door. We raid Wal-Mart and get food. Run west and make a compound or something."

"But you said that place was a deathtrap. How do you expect us to go in and come out entirely unharmed?"

"We could run along the tops of the aisle shelves. Or we can check our houses for family and food. I can defend my home. I know what to do. I've ran it through my head hundreds of times. I'd rather check our houses. Specifically my house. I need my charger." I wiggled my phone to show the battery percentage dropped to only 19%. "We all could benefit from-" Suddenly there was the sound of smashing glass from the childrens section. Me and Dannie ran up the stairs and listened closely. No moans, no scrapes, just pure silence.

Suddenly we heard a voice. Male, older than us, that's for sure. "Hello? Anyone here?"

"Dannie, should we respond? He could be in a band of raiders. Or murderers or rapists or even-"

"Hello!" Dannie shouted. I shot daggers through my eyes at her. "Were in the library!"

I could only think of what horrible apparition could come through the doors. To my surprise it was an average looking man. White, short brown hair, early 30's, blood stained shirt and slacks. Then a woman came in behind him. She must've been 14 or 15. She had blonde hair with a shock of teal highlights. She was white too and was wearing a tight punk themed T-shirt and a miniskirt with black stockings. Large boots too.

There was no point in hiding now. "Hi there! Nice to meet another survivor!"

"How old are you?" the woman asked.

"We're all 15. Me, Sean, my friend here, Dannie, and out other friend Eric." Speak of the devil, Eric came from our hideout. He was a little groggy but perked up at the sight of new people.

"Where the Hell did you guys come from?" The man asked.

"Longwood High School. Maybe a few miles from here. We stayed the night here. Where did you guys come from?"

"Wal-Mart. I'm Mark by the way. And this is Shirley." He pointed to the girl. We went down the stairs to get more acquainted.

"How on Earth did you guys get here?" Shirley asked.

"We stole a car on our way out. We almost missed Eric on the way out but the more the merrier right? Anyways, we were planning on moving soon. We were talking about it when you two dropped in." Dannie filled them in on our story as I sat down with Shirley to get the facts about the local area.

"So Shirley, Wal-Mart is safe?" Hopefully it was and we could set up shop there.

"Hell no! It was a deathtrap! We almost didn't make it out of there."

"Really. So was our school. You wouldn't believe how bad it was. As we left we saw everyone run out and either get slaughtered by the zombies or just fall to their deaths," Shirley nodded. "The middle school was even worse. It was entirely engulfed in flames. I... ran in there to find my little brother but... he... was one of them." I teared up at the thought. "But now we're planning to go back to our houses to get our needed things. Clothes, food, cell phone chargers, et-cetera."

"That's a nice plan. You have a car right?"

"Yep. A nice 2011 Honda Something. But with the GPS stations out of whack and the radio stations totally in chaos there's not much we can do on the way. But I have my iPhone. We can listen to 80's music all the way. Whoopee."

"Heh, cant be _that_ bad. Just a nice drive through Hell's Suburbs."

"A nice walk in the park. Mind if I pick roses on the way?"

"If you're willing to walk..."

"Me? Walk? Never."

"Ugh, I know. Walking sucks. But you could use a bit of walking."

"Its the first day of the end of the world. Gimme a break will ya?

"Ha, never."

"You suck."

"You suck."

"That's what she said."

"PFFF-hehe. Oh wow that was _so funny_."

"Yeah, I'm a natural George Carlin."

"Alright, I'm going to OD on sarcasm if we keep talking."

"Yeah. Okay, serious face, serious face." I moved my hand over my face a few times for emphasis.

"You're a real pisser. I'd hate to be stuck with you for this ride."

"Roger that, Star Fox."

We parted ways. She left with a grin. I left with a crush. I sat down with Mark and we began to discuss things. "So whats on our plate?" He said.

"Nothing, That's the problem. Just some chips and water. Shirley said Wal-Mart was gone so scratch that. But I bet Stop n' Shop might be better."

"Could be. You have a car?"

"Yeah. But I call driver. I don't have a license but all that Grand Theft Auto taught me well."

"It has airbags right?"

"What a find. Two survivors that doubt me. Nice catch."

"I'm driving. I actually have my license and I've been driving for ten years now. I think I'm more qualified."

"Alright you can drive. I get shotgun."

"Deal. We go to Stop n' Shop just across the L.I.E. and try to scavenge what we can."

"This could work... This could sincerely work..."

I could tell that this will be a fruitful relationship. We all seem to get along. They seem nice, and I certainly don't have any ulterior motives. This could work...

A/N: Or will it! Who knows. Find out in the next installment of Just Another Day! from the theoretical room of a million monkeys.


	6. Boom Goes the Superstore

A/N: Hiya. Author here looking for more hand outs. Please?

Things seemed to settle then. We spent our first day in hiding. The back rooms held all of us and there were a few books there to keep us mildly entertained. But soon we all got a little stir crazy. We were experiencing the end of the world after all.

Eric woke up the next day, Wednesday, with a splitting headache. Wouldn't eat or anything. He just stayed I his mass of blankets until I had to pick him up and try to get him to eat. He slept long into the morning until noon when he donned a grouchy mood. Then went back to sleep soon after. We need some antibiotics.

Thursday morning I brought up Eric's condition with Mark. We both knew he needed something. And that something must be in Wal-Mart.

Friday morning we both sat on the roof of the library contemplating what we were about to do. "Well, Eric could die if we don't do anything. He's sick. No idea with what. We need antibiotics and Wal-Mart has _shelves_ of them," I said. "And think of everything else there. Clothes, food, water, anything you could think of."

"We're in quite the situation aren't we. Yeah, go for it."

"Alrighty then!" An hour later Mark, Dannie (After some convincing), and I were suited up for scavenging Wal-Mart. I had my pistol and Dannie had hers. Mark wanted to keep his baseball bat that he found in one of the back rooms. We had Shirley stand guard in the library while we set out west towards Wal-Mart.

We started the short trek and stopped at an abandoned sedan. I glanced ahead and didn't see anything. I signaled them to move up and we continued to the bus stop just before the parking lot. "Alright," I started. "we might not make it. But remember, this is for all of us."

I stepped out into the parking lot and froze. Nothing but rows ans rows of cars. Some open, some crashed, some were entirely burnt out. We moved forward to the Home & Gardening entrance and stayed along the wall towards the main doors. It would be faster to go in through the main doors anyways. We couldn't see any undead outside and what little we could see inside told us a similar story.

We stepped inside. The electricity was on. I could feel air conditioning and smell copper in the air but it was darker than usual. Only half of the lights were on. Maybe a blown fuse or something. Ignoring the very real feeling that I would be tackled and eaten, I stepped forward into the dimly lit Wal-Mart. The smell of rotting flesh and blood became stronger with every step into the decrepit temple of capitalism. I could see the mini McDonald's to my right and check-out lines to my left. Food was still on the conveyor belt and I saw a hand on the ground near on of the counters. A grim reminder of what we would encounter here.

We turned left and headed past row after row of clothing. As we neared the pharmaceutical section, a TV suddenly came on in front of us. A cheery white guy was on the screen, talking about how much Wal-Mart helped small towns and America. I've never hated a commercial as much as I did that second. Suddenly, a roar of moans erupted from all around us. I could see all kinds of horrendously mutilated zombies coming at us from every direction.

"JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST!" I opened fire with my tiny pistol, missing every time. "Go. GO! Pharmacy's RIGHT THERE!" We weaved in between zombies in a desperate attempt to get the medicine. We bolted down an aisle and at the end a morbidly obese woman with smothered make up on her half rotten face stepped in front of us. I held up my pistol and got a shot right between her eyes. We turned right and saw the pharmacy. "Oh thank god!"

"Come on! Get in!" Dannie was already in as me and Mark held off the zombies.

"Dannie! Get the drugs! We need to move before we're swarmed!" I shouted over the sound of my gun and Mark's bat connecting with a zombies skull.

"Got 'em! Lets get the hell out of here!" Oh how much I wished we could. But it became apparent that we couldn't right now.

"Damnit! We need to move deeper inside the store! There's too many over here!" I downed a fat man and a young woman in rapid succession. _How the fuck am I doing this? Couldn't be the video games. They just taught me what buttons to press._

Dannie hopped over the counter and ran to me and Mark. We all sprinted to the toy department. I saw a huge rack of bikes and started to climb up it, signaling the others to follow suit. Soon, we wee all catching our breaths on top of a huge rack with a crowd of over 100 zombies under us.

"Jesus, we have our work cut out for us don't we?" It wasn't the time for jokes or any light-heartedness but I couldn't help it. Were in a serious pile of shit right now.

We sat there for over an hour. We just kept thinking of a way to get out. Jump across the racks to safety? Possible but could they hold the weight of three people? Could we even survive the fall if we mess up? Most likely not. These zombies swarmed you as soon as they see you. Like a hive-mind. Almost as if they were zombies before they were bitten. Just wandering around, looking at the flashing lights and shiny things.

Then, an idea. "What if we throw a piece of meat down?" I had a container of Spam with me for one of those "just-in-case" moments.

"They're zombies Sean. They only eat living humans. Not 'who-knows-how-old' meat." Mark said with a sliver of irritation in his voice. "We need someone to lure them away."

"I'll do it." Dannie raised her hand.

"No Dannie, I'll do it." I didn't want her to die. She was certainly a better person than I was. More suited for the hard future we will have to face. "Make a nice statue of me when you settle the town." I tried to climb down but immediately suffered a bout of vertigo as soon as my foot left the railing. I climbed back up to see Dannie hopping on a shelf across the aisle from us. "Dannie!"

She ran along it and jumped down into the aisle. I heard more footsteps and I saw her dart out the Home & Gardening entrance. The zombies completely forgot about me and Mark as they stumbled, shuffled, and staggered out of Wal-Mart and after Dannie. "God speed Dannie, God speed."

I climbed down, slowly, until I could feel the cheap linoleum under my feet. Mark hopped down and we made our way to the Hardware section. We searched high and low for gas or something flammable. Anything that we could use. There was a huge wall of paint thinner and other chemicals and we grabbed as many as we could and ran around Wal-Mart, dodging what few zombies remained and saturated the inside with it. After half an hour, a knot formed in my stomach. What happened to Dannie?

As I slowed down and found some matched Mark walked over watching the main doors. "So, this is it," he said. "This is how it ends for Wal-Mart."

As I struck the match I heard huffing and puffing. Dannie was right behind us panting heavily.

"I.. got... away, whooh, they're... coming back.. though." She said between breaths.

"Perfect. We make a ruckus in here and light the whole place up when they come in."

"But what about the food?" Mark was right. We needed food.

"Fine, go to McDonald's and grab something not rotten. And check the food section, if there is one, I can't remember."

"Alright. Be back in a sec." Mark ran off into the dark and I sat down next to Dannie on one of the checkout lines.

"How much time do we have until they get here? An hour? A few minutes I guess."

"Not long," she cleared her throat, "I lead them around the parking lot for a while then ran around the store. I came through the entrance and they should be here soon."

Mark came back with the food and we put it all into a shopping cart. "Look what daddy found," he pulled out a sub-machine gun from behind his back. It was a God-send right now. "And ammo." He produced a few magazines of what I guess was sub-machine gun ammo. He holstered it in his belt with a grin of satisfaction.

I left the food outside near a specifically ugly car so I would remember where it is. "Okay, here's the fun part. I'll go to electronics and you two goad them in here. I've always wanted to do this..." I stalked off towards the gigantic wall of televisions, DVD's, and games. I tuned every radio to the Emergency Broadcast Station and every TV to whatever national news channel was on. Most I just made play whatever movie I could find. I turned on every console station I could find and maxed out the volume on everything. It was a sight to behold. Every TV showing the dying hopes of humanity with the radios broadcasting our last desperate call for help. Every stereo playing our once great music stars and game consoles blasting video game soundtracks at ear-splitting volumes.

I went back to the main entrance in time to watch Dannie and Mark lead the zombies to slaughter. I grabbed them both and we hid as the zombies forgot about us and went to the mass of lights and sounds. As soon as the last one went in we ran outside and closed the door. We ran over to the other entrance and lit a match.

"I never really was fond of Wal-Mart anyways. I always liked Target more." Everyone nodded in agreement. I dropped the match and a line of flames ran down the aisle and into the store. I closed the door and ran as fast as I could to the ugly car I put the food next to. I got behind the cart and ran half way through the parking lot when Wal-Mart exploded. Dannie, Mark, the cart, and I were knocked down by the sudden blast of air. I turned around to see a big black mushroom cloud coming from Wal-Mart.

"Oh my god, its beautiful." I said in equal amounts of terror and amazement. We all scrambled to put the food back in the cart and hauled ass back to the library. Shirley was there.

"Holy fucking balls of fire did you guys do that?" She screamed.

"Yeah! Shit was amazing!" I replied. It was awesome but in retrospect, it must've been the worst thing to do. Such a big explosion would attract the undead from all over Long Island and some unsavory human beings. "Mark found a fucking sub-machine gun! Can you believe this shit? Oh! And we found food and medicine for Eric!" It was truly great night. We gave Eric the pills and he didn't wake up in the middle of the night complaining like he did last night. We all ate some cold cheeseburgers, chicken tenders and a few cans of soup. It wasn't the best meal I had but it was the best one I would have for a while.

I went to sleep thinking, everything is going to be alright. We could carve out an existence here. Raid, loot, and plunder the abandoned stores and move on. Yeah, it'll be dangerous but the possibilities are endless...

A/N: And Wal-Mart's done for! I think everything is better with a massive explosion. Wraps it up in a nice massive, flaming bow. Maybe now we can write those reviews...


	7. C'est la Vie!

A/N: How about a Saturday/Wednesday thing. That can work.

The group was totally worn out from all the excitement of Friday's mad dash. Today is Monday. One entire week of zombies. Eric recovered after a night of sleep thankfully and we had a nice new sub-machine gun.

Me and Shirley spent the rest of the morning doing inventory in the lobby. Two 9mm pistols. 25 rounds of 9mm ammunition. A SMG with 150 odd rounds of ammo. Roughly a week worth of junk food and some water bottles. 5 people all ready, willing, and able to move. Right about noon we had a reason to do just that.

"Anyone see any zombies yet? I mean, we're right next to a giant pyre that's just _begging_ for the undead to swarm it," I said with a touch of worry soaked in an attempt to lighten the pervasive somber mood. All that stood between us was a post office and some woods.

"No actually. You guys must've lost them on the way back here." Shirley answered.

"I'm not so sure. I'll go check."

I went into the stairwell and headed towards the roof. I opened the door to a cold wind, gray skies, and a slight rain. I peered out over the air conditioners and vents to the street and didn't see anything other than abandoned cars and a dried brownish red spot where I suppose someone met their fate. Looking west, I saw the post office abandoned and the forest empty.

When I made it back down the lights went out. "Oh fan-fucking-tastic!" I felt my way back into the library and tried to use the natural light in the cavernous main room to find my way back to the hideout. As soon as I put my hand on the knob I heard a scream.

It was Shirley's.

I raced downstairs and into the lobby to find Shirley pointing to a crowd of hundreds of zombies at the front doors. The explosion on Friday must've attracted them. The doors were plexiglass so it would take them maybe 10 minutes to get in. Everyone else came over almost immediately and we knew we had to go now.

"I say we lead them in, go to the roof and jump down into the parking lot. Get in the car and drive. They would all be in the library by the time we get there," I said. "We should drive west. Fuck going to Stop n' Shop. Too dangerous. Everyone and their grandma will be there just like Wal-Mart."

"You're right. Any objections?" Mark surprisingly agreed with me. Everyone else nodded. "Sean, you stay here and keep them busy while me and the gang go and get our stuff. I'll holler for you when we're ready. Then you open the doors and run as fast as you can to the stairwell. Can you do that?"

"I can do it." I wasn't entirely sure though. I couldn't run for too long but damnit adrenaline was a great thing. "Go! Before they get in by their own will."

They disappeared into the library and I turned to face the crowd. They were lamely banging on the door with their rotting fists. Not doing much. Maybe the door will hold, I thought. But one zombie came up with a brick and made a small but noticeable crack in the front line of doors. _Wait, did he call us the gang?_

It felt like hours but soon everyone was ready. Dannie, Eric and Shirley were upstairs and Mark called from the stairwell. "Let the bastards in!"

I walked up to the emergency door release button and slammed my fist down on it. The doors slid open and hundreds of zombies poured in from the street. Could've been a million for all I knew. My legs felt like solid pillars of marble as I stood there in horror. But I soon realized my predicament and hauled ass to the stairwell, some faster zombies at my heels. As I ran in Mark slammed the door and the runners impacted into the cold metal door and started to bang. "All clear!" I heard Eric shout.

Me and Mark ran up the stairs and sprinted to the edge of the awning over the main entrance. "Okay, one, two, THREE!" We all fell on the pavement. Shirley scraped her knee a bit and I felt my legs fall out from under me with the sudden impact.

Dannie, Eric and Mark took off for the car as Shirley helped me up. Some zombies must've stayed because we were beset by the undead not even fifty feet from the library entrance. They were easily dispatched with the night sticks and soon we were all in the cramped car. I had the back right seat.

"Lets get the fuck out of here!" The car jumped forward and on to the road. We passed Wal-Mart and saw what became of the superstore after the explosion. It was fairly intact but most of the walls had collapsed and it was still on fire after four days. I couldn't see any zombies though.

The car bumbled down the road for a minute before the adrenaline wore off. It hit me like a train hits a truck full of watermelons. I put my head down on the arm rest and nodded off. I didn't get a deep sleep because our impromptu journey stopped almost as soon as it started.

"Holy hand grenade of Antioch! A gun store!" Mark shouted with the glee of a small child seeing an amusement park for the first time. I couldn't blame him. We needed guns. He parked the car and Shirley, Eric, and I got out. Dannie and Mark stayed back.

We half-jogged to the gun shop thinking of what gun we'd grab. I slowed and got up against the wall next to the door. Eric followed suit and got against the opposite side. Shirley went right for the door. I heard a metallic creak as the doors swung open.

"Any zombies?" I asked hesitantly. A loud boom rang out and Shirley fell to the ground, chunks of her torso missing. She sputtered blood as the life drained from her eyes. I froze as a man wearing a bright hunting jacket walked out and aimed for Eric.

Another shot rang off as I came to my senses. I held up my gun and emptied the clip into the bastards back. He fell to the ground with a loud gurgle. It took a second to process what happened. Shirley was dead, Eric could be, and I just killed someone. _I just killed another living human being._ Dannie and Mark were running over. They slowed as they saw the scene before them. I now saw what happened to Eric. He was mostly intact, except for the head. It was entirely blown off.

I vomited on the asphalt. _I'm a fucking murderer_. Mark just looked at the bodies with a grimace and ran into the store. Dannie couldn't even look at Eric's body and ran in after him. A few seconds later they ran out with pistols, a few rifles, and a nice big bag of ammunition boxes. A bit of internal prodding made me get up and into the car. I took the back row with the guns on the floor as Mark took driver again and Dannie got shotgun.

"I'm... I'm a murderer" I asked, hoping to hear something, _anything_, to console me.

Mark sighed, "It seems so. I'm sorry your friend died. He seemed like a good kid. And Shirley, she was my neighbor. And she," He sighed again, "She was a good person. I'm really at a loss for words."

Dannie started to whimper and soon me and her began to cry. We both knew Eric for years and accepted him as a plain fact of life. A constant in our school career. After an hour of driving the crying died down into shaking sobs, then into a mere whimper every now and then. I sat up and looked out of the window. More small buildings in between of small forests.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Uhh, six o'clock. We need to stop and sleep soon." Mark answered.

"Goddammit! Where the hell can we stop?" Now I'm angry. This fucking guy, I don't even have the stomach to call him a human anymore, killed our friends in cold blood. _I'm not the murderer here, he is._

"How about there?" Mark pointed to a small hovel-like place just off the road, "It looks clean and possibly defensible."

"Awesome. Go there then." I said. The car puttered into the parking lot and we hopped out. Each with a pistol and hunting rifle. I chose the one with a scope and a dark wood finish. It was shiny too and had these little buckles and hooks that made it look more aesthetic. _What a weird time to care what something looks like._ We stepped up some steps when I saw a sign that made me jump.

"Oh my _fucking_ god! Dannie! Look," I pointed to a sign near the door," Mirabelle, remember? We were gonna go on a field trip here in a month!" I had no idea it was along a lake. It would've been awesome if only the dead didn't rise.

"Wow, this is coincidental." Dannie said as she opened the door, pistol raised.

"Tu voudrais l'eau avec ses nourritures, madame?" I said with a smug tone. The one I use whenever I speak French with people who cant speak it. Dannie could but that was besides the point. The place was definitely old. The ceiling was low and it was warmly lit. To the left was a hallway and to my right was a sitting room. In front of us was a small staircase. I moved to the hallway and peered down it. It dropped down a small set of stairs and into another hallway. And a set of kitchen double doors was about 3/4's down the way. I came back to the main room to see Dannie returning from upstairs. She couldn't find anything.

I told them about the hallway and we decided to just go down it. I glanced into the kitchen as we passed and didn't see anything, just darkness. We moved into the next hallway and saw a door at the end. Through that door was a large room with tables and chairs stacked in the corners. Nothing of value. When we returned to the hallway we saw the door swing out, then in, then out again. Someone must've gone through.

Immediately I crouched and started to walk to the doors. Inside we heard groans. Not undead groans though. But the groans of an injured human. Slowly we opened the doors. Then the groans stopped. After what felt like an eternity a voice rang out. "Hello? Is anyone there?" It belonged to a woman, probably around her 40's or 50's. We moved in and Dannie turned on her flashlight. We saw a woman wearing an expensive sweater and tan slacks with heel-less high heels adorned with rhinestones. She had on a lot of jewelry, too. Not the expensive jewels but wooden necklaces and small stones on her wrists. But most importantly she had a bloody gash on her forearm and calf. Definitely bite marks.

"Can you help? Those _things_ bit me!" She said with more attitude than I would've liked. I moved over to her and Dannie and Mark began to secure and barricade the room. Her name was Stacey and she was there with her husband when the shit hit the fan. Romantic second honeymoon gone horribly wrong. She goes on to say how she returned to their cottage by the lake to find her husband eating one of the staff. He got up and bit her arm. She fell and he bit her leg. It was a miracle she was still alive.

"Okay Stacey. There's nothing we can do about this I'm afraid. You've been bit and being bit means you're going to turn into one of them. I...I'm sorry this happened." I tried to bring sympathy into my voice but it didn't help much. Stacey began to cry, quietly at first but it got progressively louder.

"Shh! Stacey more will come if you don't keep quiet!" This seemed to work as she quieted down. I really feel bad for her. Surviving a week in a kitchen, totally unbarricaded, only to be told by a kid that you're going to die. It's totally beyond me how she survived this long without turning.

"Well," I got up and moved to a collection of rags in a corner, "We need to sleep. We stopped here for that in the first place." Everyone lied down and soon everyone was asleep. Except for me. I kept thinking about Eric and Shirley's corpses in front of that gun store, rotting in the sun, being picked at by zombies and scavengers. Maybe someday I'll be back to bury them. Maybe someday. I drifted off to sleep with the thought of things returning to normal and my life coming together.

I awoke with Stacey moaning loudly. It was still dark out. "Stacey shudda fug up is late!" The moaning stopped. Then I heard a dragging sound and the current situation dawned on me. Stacey turned on us in our sleep. "Holy shit guys wake up Stacey's turned into a zombie!" At this all of us were awake and Dannie was searching for her flashlight. Suddenly I felt cold hands wrap around my arms and a body push me to the ground.

"Over here, FUCK!" I could smell Stacey's breath on me. It was coppery and rotten. Probably because she hadn't brushed her teeth for a while and must've vomited blood recently. I could even hear her teeth clap together every time she tried to get a chunk of my neck. Suddenly a light came and I could see her face. It was like it was before just more blue and her eyes had turned gray. Then a loud crack emanated in the medium sized kitchen as Marks bat connected with her head. She twitched a bit more and Mark smashed her head in a great display of primitive rage.

"Goddammit that was close," I said. I felt my face to make sure she didn't get a scratch on me. You could never be too careful.

"Well, back to sleep!" Mark said cheerfully.

"Oh shut up asshole." I said back. It was funny as hell but there was no fiber in my body that wanted to laugh now. Not after today. Especially after the last week and a half. _Shit's crazy, son,_ I told myself as I drifted into sleep.

A/N: So that's chapter 7. Longest one I've done I think. Isn't that awesome! Read, review, and subscribe! I know people are reading so review or something! It could help me in the motivation department.


	8. Follow the Metal Strewn Road

A/N: Sorry for missing two Wednesday updates _and_ a Saturday update. A million and one things kept me from writing. And thanks to Tigsham for subscribing!

When I woke up there was light streaming through the door window. Dannie and Mark were still asleep so I started to scavenge. There wasn't much left. A few rotten strawberries, stale Doritos, and an old container of milk. I scraped the mold off the strawberries and ate them. Mom said something about it being safe to eat anyways. I started to pick at the Doritos. Then Dannie woke up and we remained silent. What was there to talk about? Everyone we knew was dead and who knows how many zombies there were.

Mark soon came to and we decided to leave. We put Stacey's body under a sheet on the stove and lit it. Not the best way to handle a corpse but it worked. She seemed nice enough to deserve some sort of ceremony. The thought of what would become of this ran through my mind. _A burnt, rotted corpse would be a nasty surprise for a scavenger wouldn't it._ We returned to the car without dilemma and drove down the road. It was maybe two hours before I realized we were still in Suffolk county.

"This is taking forever," I said mostly to myself, "Did anyone check the radio?"

"No. Actually," Dannie said, "I'll do that right now." She fiddled with a few switches and soon static came on. Then a few dials were turned and we heard the stern words of a man from some government agency telling us to stay in our homes and await rescue from U.S. Soldiers in shining armor with helicopters and the cure for zombiism. Now that was a load.

"Turn this stuff off. We know they're not coming anyway." I said, summing up the moods of everyone in the car. Dannie switched the station to BLI and we heard music. Honest to god we heard _music_. It was Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. I sat there dumbfounded like everyone else as the song wound down. Then the usual perky female DJ came on.

"Hey everyone out there you're listening to 106.1 BLI, the best music on Long Island. That was Katy Perry's hit song 'Teenage Dream' and now we have a bit of Lady Gaga coming your way with Born This Way!" _It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M...M...M..._ The song continued when it hit me. Someone at the station must be alive!

"We're still in Suffolk county right? Head south to Sunrise Highway. The station's right there along the highway. Maybe someone's alive." I suggested.

"Might as well. What could go wrong?" Mark replied.

After many _We're lost!_'s and _Where are we?_'s we found the service road along another highway. When we tried to get on all we could see were abandoned cars. We stopped and I got out and looked west. Miles and miles of empty cars sitting there. A few had blood on them. Some had what looked like the zombified remains of their operators still strapped in.

"Jesus, its amazing... Not amazing like a baby being born or flowers or something but... amazing in some alien way that I just can't put my finger on." I said in awe. Hundreds of cars all neatly aligned towards supposed freedom and safety.

"Lets get going, it's almost noon." Dannie was right. We needed to go.

We all got into the car and started to head south on a parkway that wasn't entirely blocked but cars littered the middle and sides of the road. _At least they had the courtesy to pull over for us_, I thought. We drove through an elongated cloverleaf and were forced to diverge from our trail, now a river of cars, through a more populated town. Here I could see many more zombies than before. They were sparsely scattered but present nonetheless. House after house showed nothing more than broken windows and cracked doors. Soon we found Sunrise Highway, entirely backed up like all of the others. The car turned right on to the service road and started to sputter.

"Goddammit," Mark shouted in anger, "We're out of gas!" The car was still going but I could tell it wouldn't be for long.

"There! There's a gas station. Go there!" Dannie said. The car pulled next to a pump and we got out to scavenge what we could. Mark was siphoning gas for the car while me and Dannie went into the convenience store. Immediately a zombie came from the aisles. Dannie shot him in the forehead and we moved on. The place was virtually untouched. Candy, warm soda, and semi-rotten food was still in its packaging. I grabbed a warm and a bar of taffy. Even the apocalypse wouldn't stop my sweet tooth. Dannie snatched two big bags of chips and a jug of water. Remembering Mark I found a case of bottled water, a bag of pretzels for him and more candy for me.

When we left Mark was done pumping gas and the undead were coming out of the woodwork. It was easy to pack the car with our 'groceries' and we were off to the radio station in under thirty seconds. We weren't even out of the parking lot when I opened my soda. It gave the normal _hiss_ that soda does but when I put it to my lips I didn't feel any carbonation.

"Oh I _love_ warm soda. Especially when it's flat!" Maybe my taffy would be better. I opened it to find it a little melted but overall as expected. _At least something's going right._ After ten minutes, Mark saw the WBLI sign and we pulled into the station.

"Are they still broadcasting?" Dannie asked.

"Lemme check," Mark replied. He pressed a button and soon BLI came on. This time Britney Spear's 'Hold It Against Me' was on. "Yeah, seems to be," Mark said.

We all got out, each with a pistol, rifle, and water bottle just in case. We went through the double doors, searching for undead, and continued into the station. After navigating through corridors and around offices we found the broadcasting room with the zombified remains of the perky woman from earlier banging on the glass.

"It...was recorded? Never would've guessed," I said. "Well, lets move on before any more zombies show up."

"Come on, there has to be something here." Dannie said.

"Maybe there is. Who knows what could be here!" Mark agreed.

We moved into the station and came across a vending machine full of candy. "DIBS!" I shouted excitedly. I smashed the glass shield with the butt of my rifle and grabbed as much of the colorfully wrapped goodness as I possibly could and stuffed it into my hoodie. Mark and Dannie looked at me like I was a madman. "What? There wont be any left in a year you know!" I told them. After 10 minutes of searching we found keys to a van, an inert iPad, and tickets to a Lady Gaga concert in 2 months. _Probably canceled_, I thought.

"Well, nothing of any _real_ value's here. How about we just keep going west?" I suggested. There wasn't anything else on Long Island except death and bad memories. Sure the rest of the country is probably worse off than us but at least out there we could start fresh.

"Okay. Might as well head ou-OH my god!" Me and Dannie ran into the hallway and saw Mark with his hands up and a shotgun barrel to his chest. "Uh, guys? Help?"

"What the fuck are you guys doin' here?" said a gruff voice which I can only assume belonged to the shotguns operator.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Dannie retorted. I gotta admit she had some balls when it came to hostage situations.

"Those things, whatever they are, chased me here. So how'd you guys get here," A nice chit-chat with what could be a psychopath. Great.

"We-we came from out east. Middle Island. From the high school. We um, we lost a few on the way," I choked out. This road we were taking is a long one and we've already lost two people. We're going to have to ride it for the rest of our lives though. No matter how bumpy it gets. The only thing we could do is stop going and let either the elements or the zombies get us.

"Heh, and where do you think you're going? Manhattan? That place is a war-zone..."

"How would you know?" Mark retorted. You could sense how nervous he was entirely by voice.

"I just came from there," The stranger said with a sigh. "I barely made it out through the subways. The streets are clogged and the bridges were bombed. And the tunnels were collapsed by the military. And before you get any bright ideas the subways are full of people trying to get out. Entire trains full of 'em trapped in the tunnels." It must've been terrible, I thought. Hundreds of panicking people trapped in a dark tunnel surrounded by zombies.

"Look, we've all been through shit over the last week. Has it been a week already? What day is it," I took out my phone to check the date but my phone was dead. It _has_ been a week after all without a charge. "Damnit, is there an iPhone charger around here?" I began my quest as Dannie, the man from Manhattan, and Mark, still at gunpoint, began to dissect the events leading up to and after the outbreak.

"Come on! There _has_ to be one some where!" I said aloud. I continued through hallways and small rooms until I came across the sound room with the female zombie. Then I saw it. An iPhone charger sticking out of a bag. To make this occasion even better there was a car adapter and a socket adapter like the one I had. But there was also a grotesque zombie in the room clawing at the window.

I walked past the glass and into a room full of defunct machinery for broadcasting, most of it dark except for a few screens showing numbers and ratios. Maybe that's how the station was still broadcasting. At the end of a long row of darkened computers there was a door that lead into the recording room. I readied my pistol and grabbed the handle. Something could go wrong, I thought. Something could go horribly wrong and I get bit.

Sighing I opened the door. The zombie turned to me and released a gurgling growl and staggered over to me. There was only 3 or 4 feet between us in the small padded room. I raised my pistol and pulled the trigger. *click*

"Oh for fucks sake," The zombie lurched and pushed me to the floor. I got my left hand under its neck and kept its gnawing mandibles from my face long enough to grab a pencil. _Maybe I can kill it._ I held the pencil pointy side in, and jammed it into the ear canal of the zombie. It's head jerked to the side but it came back and continued to gnaw. I looked around desperately for anything that could help. A book, a cell phone studded with pink rhinestones, a steak knife-_ A fucking steak knife!_

I tried to reach the steak knife which was only a few feet away, on my left side. I knew it was Do-or-Die now. I pushed with all my might and the zombie fell to my right. My reflexes kicked in and I grabbed the knife while standing up. It was a quick muscle jerk that ended the zombies life, or un-life. The zombie fell on her side and didn't get back up. _Mission accomplished._ I grabbed the charger cord and both adapters and headed back to the hallway.

No one was there. No Mark, no Dannie, nor the guy with a shotgun. _What, the, FUCK._ Now I couldn't help but panic. I ran to where the man with the shotgun hid and saw the glowing outline of a door. I walked up, rifle in hand, and knocked. The door swung open and inside sat Dannie, Mark, and the man who I later found out was named Kevin. I took a seat and plugged in the charger and phone. Maybe now I can get on top of things now that my phone's alive.

"So, what now." Mark started. We were in a posh office with bean-bag chairs and a big television. Maybe 60 inches or something.

"Well, city's out. Going back? Do you guys want to?" Everyone shook their heads including Kevin. He knew things were just as bad out east. "Maybe we can take a boat, cruise past Manhattan, and make headway from some random coast." My phone chirped, confirming that it was charged enough to be used. "Alright... Let's see what day it is!"

4:05 PM Tuesday March 8, 2011. Not that bad. I slid my finger across the screen to unlock it and was bombarded by news updates about outbreaks, infections, and cures being worked on. _Cures being worked on?_ The others began to discuss where we can find a boat and who can be captain as I became engrossed in the news articles popping up on my phone. _They're working on a cure in Atlanta? Damn, that's going to be a long trip. If there even is a cure._

I steeled my eyes from my phone to the group. Now they were talking about weather and tides and how long we could last out at sea. I couldn't wrap my mind around the conversation and went back to my phone. I checked my calls, nothing. Texts, nothing. Email, even after the apocalypse I manage to pull in 15 YouTube friend requests. I checked YouTube out of habit and all I could see were blurry, phone camera videos of the undead.

"Hey guys," I started, "Ever notice we never really encountered the undead except for the library and Wal-Mart? Like, wouldn't we be barely escaping hoard after hoard? Starving, thirsty, out of gas, you know. But here we are, in the gaudiest office I've ever seen, well fed, hydrated, and having casual conversation. I swear we have it so easy its a criminal offense."

Dannie and Mark sort of shrugged while Kevin looked at me with a mix of confusion and discomfort. "Uh, yeah. Maybe you shouldn't have said that." Dannie said.

"Well, it's true for the most part. We have it easy."

"Easy? We lost our families and are on the run from walking corpses. That's not _easy_. We can just tolerate it better then most."

"Tolerance or no we have a goal. The CDC down in Atlanta was working on a cure. We should head there and see what they have up their sleeves. We can take a boat whenever we find a good one and head south. I don't know if there's a river or highway we can follow but we have to try."

"I thought this disease didn't have a cure." Kevin spoke up.

"Yeah, they never do. But who says this is a movie or story or something? This is real life! Who knows whats going on down there? Maybe they found a cure already! Maybe they're all dead. Who can say?"

And that was that. We all decided we need to go to Atlanta. After we get off of Long Island first. That was the primary goal. That night we slept in the office. I couldn't say we all slept. The undead were outside, moaning and bumping into each other. It was a disgusting fate for a person. A fully functional person with thoughts, dreams, opinions, and memories reduced to a cold, hard shell of what they used to be. Relentlessly stalking and killing in cold blood. But even after losing a close friend, scavenging the ruins of civilization, and stabbing a zombie in the face with a steak knife all I could concern myself with was what happened to my parents. Were they alive somewhere or did they fall into the undead ranks like so many others? I soon fell into a fitful sleep, plagued with nightmares and apparitions.

A/N: And that's chapter 8. Or so I think. And since the Wednesday/Saturday thing is a _little_ daunting I'm cutting back to just Saturday. Saturday is a nice day anyways.


	9. On the Road Again

A/N: Lo and behold chapter 9. BEGIN!

I slowly opened my eyes. As I got up I realized my genius idea to sleep on one of the bean bag chairs backfired horribly. A shock of pain roared across my back and into my neck and I fell back into the bag with a poof. Some dust particles shot out of the seems and drifted in the sunlight streaming from a window with the blinds pulled. I got up, ignoring the now less severe pain, and put my fingers in between the shades and slowly pulled one up. Outside I could see a handful of zombies and another abandoned car. I turned around to see everyone laying about. Kevin was sprawled out on the floor, Dannie was on a couch by the door, and Mark was lying back in a swivel chair. Suddenly an idea popped in my head. I could start screaming and wake them up, or I could gently nudge Mark's feet off the desk and have him freak out. _Why do I always think these things?_

I decided against it. We were all high strung what with the apocalypse and everything. Even I was. I grabbed my pistol, reloaded it _correctly_ this time, and my rifle. I might as well learn how to use it. I quietly opened the door and slid out. Through a hallway and into a maintenance room I found the remains of a worker. This one was certainly a zombie but someone else put him down. Possibly the group when I went on my escapade for the charger. Ignoring the corpse I found a reflective sign that had 'ROOF ACCESS' in big bold letters and began to climb a ladder. I pushed on a panel and sunlight filled my eyes and the room. I climbed up and admired the sight.

Hundreds of cars neatly aligned on the highway, zombies looking at me and slowly shuffling over, and a large pillar of smoke coming from out west. _Must be Manhattan._ I looked around at the trees and realized how smudgy my glasses were. I took them off and cleaned them the best I could with my shirt. After my cleaning session I got down on my stomach and pulled the rifle out in front of me. I looked down the sight at a particularly ugly zombie and pulled the trigger. The bullet went off to the right. Far to the right.

I had no idea how to operate a gun, much less how to adjust whatever widgets and switches it had on it. I tried twisting a dial and shot for the zombie again. Even more off. So I turned the dial in the other direction and shot a third time. The zombie's head collapsed partially and it fell down. Perfect.

The shooting must've woke up everyone because Dannie came up from the station asking what I was doing.

"Target practice." I replied nonchalantly.

"Well your 'target practice' woke us _and_ the zombies up. Come on, Mark made breakfast."

_Breakfast?_ Breakfast consisted of pretzels, chips, and water bottles. I commented on how clean the water tasted with the others looking on with amusement. "What? It _is_ filtered seven times. It should taste clean!"

We concluded breakfast with some more scavenging of the station. Once again, we found little to nothing. I left a message in the office detailing our group, our plans, and left a cache of water and food under the desk. Hopefully someone could use it better than we could. After all, everyone could use a hand in this mess.

Unfortunately my impromptu target practice attracted a fair number of the undead. Once again I got on the roof and took aim on the undead. I shot maybe ten or fifteen before Dannie, Mark, and Kevin made a move to the car. I hopped down from my perch, feeling my entire body shudder with the impact. I regained my balance and staggered to the car, carrying my rifle. I took the back seat with Kevin as Dannie took shotgun again and Mark drove. The car fizzled to life and we were immediately assaulted by loud pop music. Dannie punched the radio into submission and Mark drove through the parking lot and over the highway on a bridge. The drive continued south past two schools and more houses. 

A bridge came up ahead that used to carry bustling metro trains. Now one of said trains has apparently derailed and blocked the entire road. The train had licks of scorched metal extending from the doors and windows. I could even see a few cars under the wreck.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Mark exclaimed, "How the hell are we gonna get past _this_?"

"Head down that road. There must be some sorta road that goes under the rails, too." Kevin interjected. Mark put the car into reverse and something popped. Very loudly popped.

"Oh goddammit WHAT NOW!"

Mark got out of the car and a stream of loud and profane words left his mouth. Soon we were gathered around him staring at a flat tire with a massive nail sticking out of it.

"Okay. We walk, or we jack another car." I offered. "Personally, I hate walking more than the zombies. But I, no, _we_, could use some fresh air." As the words left my mouth I caught sight of a massive S.U.V. It was blue, definitely modern looking, and had the green hybrid symbol on it. "Fuck walking, lets take this one!" I jogged over to the SUV in hopes of finding it empty. But instead I found a baby's car seat with blood on it, assorted rotted grocery bags, and a nice leather interior stained with blood. "Nah, this ones full of shit." I pulled my head out of the car to a dripping sound to my right. I turned and saw a female zombie in her mid-thirties staring at me. But this zombie was different.

Her eyes were bloodshot, red even. And giving me a death-glare even the hardiest person couldn't shake off. Bloody chunks of flesh fell out of her mouth as it opened. When I saw an infants hand come out I took it as my ticket to leave. I took a step back and landed on a squeaky toy. The zombie lifted her head up and let out a blood-curdling scream that was a mix of a feral animal and a tortured human. She literally jumped on me and started to tear at my clothes. I felt my hoodie tear in a few places but she hadn't hit flesh. Yet. A shot rang out and hit her in the shoulder. She glared at Mark, who put down his rifle and charged for him. Dannie and Kevin opened fire as the she-devil ran towards Mark. I got up and pulled out my pistol, taking aim at the zombie.

Three shots rang out. One hit her knee. Good, now she's crippled, sort of. Another hit her in the back, mine. Now she really was crippled. The final bullet tore her neck apart. All that remained of this freak of freaks of nature was a gnawing head. Mark walked over and shot it straight through the head.

"Whoo, wha- what the FUCK was that?" I exclaimed between ragged breaths. "Dont tell- tell me they're fucking _mutating_ now!" No one dared to answer.

"Lets get on the train tracks and follow them to a station. There should be cars there." Mark said.

Dannie came over and asked if I was okay. "I'm fine." I said. "She didn't get a bite or scratch in, thank god, but I'm pretty shaken up, hehe." Goddamnit, that was scary. I wont be able to sleep for a while without revisiting that scene.

We walked up a hill and came to the tracks. The third rail couldn't have been live, not after the power went out, but no one wanted to test that. We headed west again along the tracks. We walked for hours until the late afternoon. I checked my phone again, 5:45 PM.

"Guys, we gotta stop. It's getting late and we're ALL tired here." I looked at the station we were approaching. It was Amityville Station.

"Come on, Sean. Don't give out on us now. We have maybe another hour before nightfall." Mark had a point there. We continued past the station and soon I saw something that made me tear up and bring me to my knees.

"Ha! Oh my fucking god fucking look at that! LOOK AT THAT!" It was a mall. A shopping mall with lights on. There were moving lights on top of the roof too. "PEOPLE! PEOPLE GUYS!" I couldn't contain my excitement as I broke into a spastic dance of pure joy and happiness.

"And look, zombies. Hundreds of zombies," Goddamnit Kevin. Mister Buzzkill.

"Well, how could we get there? We don't have a car, and they probably don't even know we exist." even Dannie jumped on the bandwagon of ruining my buzz.

"Maybe we should find a place close by to sleep in for tonight. We can deal with the mall tomorrow. Remember, it's getting late." Finally, some words of encouragement by Mark. "there's a lot of open space here. I think I see a good spot just south. Stick close."

We stumbled down the hill onto a soccer field. "Why did we call is soccer in the first place guys? Why not like the rest of the world and call if football?" I could even tell in the semi-dark of twilight that everyone shot me a glance of 'not the time'.

We came to a large, nondescript building that reminded me of a warehouse. It was a big indoor sports place. Quietly we shuffled in through the door. It was darker than the depths of the ocean inside. I flicked my flashlight on and shined it ahead. There was a reception desk and doors leading to a gigantic room full of sports equipment and another to a slightly smaller room full of gymnastic equipment. To my left were unisex showers and to my right was a stairwell to management. Going with my gut I headed right. Up the stairs was a small reception office and a door to what I suppose was the managers office. Kevin continued to search the reception while I knocked on the door of the office. No response, probably no zombies. I opened the door and poked my flashlight in.

The place stunk of rotted flesh and old blood. I opened the door more to see a slumped figure in a chair. It was a man, or what was left of him. He blew his head off with a shotgun and was rotted thoroughly. I wanted to grab that shotgun. I slowly walked over to the corpse and, hand over my mouth and nose, grabbed the shotgun from under his head. I pulled but his hands were latched onto the shotgun.

"Kevin. Kevin." I whispered. Lord knows what else lurked in here. Kevin poked his head through the door and saw my predicament. He came in and I motioned to the dead man's hands. He looked at me with disgust. "What? He wont be needing it."

Kevin shrugged and left for the reception again. I stood there, hands on a shotgun clutched by a dead man, entirely rethinking my plan. "Oh fine, be that way." I muttered. I gripped the fingers of the corpse and pulled. What the hell? They were stuck. "Rigor mortis, well I'll be damned." I pulled harder. The fingers bent slowly until I could finally pull the shotgun out. "Nice."

I turned around and went back into the reception of the management level and found Kevin watching out the window. I walked next to him and we admired the glow of the mall from afar and the gentle patterns of the undead's shuffling in the parking lot. They weren't heading towards us thankfully. They just... wandered around.

After a few minutes we heard a bang from downstairs. Then more bangs, then two pistols entirely opening up. Outside the undead turned their heads and began to make headway for our building. Kevin and I bolted down the stairs to find Dannie and Mark shooting at a crowd of six zombies from the main sports room. Two were female gymnasts, three were male soccer players and the last one was an obese man dressed in coach attire. Two soccer players and the gymnast girls dropped soon after. Then the final soccer player tripped on a barbell and smashed his own head in on a bench. The final zombie was put down my knife a la Mark.

"Great, now the zombies are coming." I said with as much cynicism as I could muster. "We should sleep upstairs tonight. It's sort of defensible and there's a few rooms to duck into. But we need to dispose of a corpse first." Dannie and Mark exchanged nervous glances and Kevin just shrugged. We went upstairs with as little noise as possible now that the undead were banging our doors down. I lead them into the gory office and they stood in shock. Now that I notice it the man's skull was half lodged in the ceiling. How the hell did that happen?

"Hehe, okay. Not going in that room anymore. Isn't there another room?" Dannie tried to make it apparent that no one was going to clean that mess up.

"Here's a... bathroom. Its better than a blood soaked office though, right? Right?" I suggested. Shrugs and sighs were for dinner tonight. No one had an appetite after today and I couldn't blame them. Even I wasn't hungry. Though I did nibble on some pretzels and had a bottle of water. I was almost about to hit deep sleep when I was hit with a massive wall of thought. _Mall, gym nearby, open spaces, train track, and wasn't there a Macy's? And a Wal-Mart?_ Oh god, now I recognized where we were. We just passed into Nassau county. That was Sunrise Mall. Where I got my clothes, shoes, games, snacks, all sorts of consumer goods!

The nostalgia came in when I remembered passing it in the car whenever my dad would pick us up for the weekend. Always on the road for an hour listening to the radio or just sitting in an awkward silence. And then being picked up by mom on the way home and the joking and laughter about whatever happened over the weekend. Then even more memories of going to Grandma's house and Thanksgivings, Easters and Christmas's with the family. I couldn't help but cry. Cry for my old life that I lost. Cry for the hardships I've endured in only a week and a half. And cry for the long road I have to walk to survive this.

A/N: Hot damn chapter 9! Was that too dramatic? I can't tell. Maybe a few reviews could help me tune in to the overall theme. *wink wink-nudge nudge*


	10. Consumer Paradise

_A/N: Wow, chapter 10 already! I always knew I'd get this far until I actually typed up my first chapter and posted it. Then my "hiatus" where I totally forgot it and never thought it would get done. Then I started to write again and now here we are. I'd love some reviews. Still a little... starved of attention on my end. But I shouldn't be demanding._

My eyes opened slowly to darkness. I began to get up only to touch a cold liquid on the floor. My hand shot back to my side and I stood up. My left hand groped in the darkness for some sort of familiarity and I was rewarded with the plastic door of a bathroom stall. The events of yesterday ran through my head as a clear picture of our situation came to. We were in a dank bathroom in a massive sports complex next to a once-busy highway parallel to one of the busiest train lines in the country and across that was a massive shopping center.

I maneuvered to the door, bumping into a sink on the way. I felt around for a switch and turned it on. _Damn, no power._ I flicked the switch a few more times until I succumbed to logic. I opened the bathroom door to a brightly lit room with linoleum floors. A smell of blood and flesh assaulted my senses. I heard a loud groan behind me. I turned to see Mark staring at me from the floor, giving me the finger before he got up and reached for his bag. He stumbled around a bit with the sudden addition of 20 pounds and kicked over a lantern effectively waking up Kevin and Dannie.

A light breakfast of chips and water peppered with insults to me for waking Mark up and to Mark for waking everyone else up. Soon we were packed up and ready to go downstairs before I remembered the banging last night.

"Hey wait. Weren't we under siege by the undead before we went to sleep?" We exchanged worried glances for a few seconds. "I'll check the situation outside. You guys go downstairs."

They shuffled down the stairs as I stood by the window. I always took high ground when we were in danger. Whether the library, radio station, or here. But I sure as _HELL_ wont be jumping off of this. I couldn't see too many zombies. Only a handful by a burnt car, a lone zombie banging on a wall, and the massive horde in front of the mall. _All clear-ish. _I didn't hear any shooting so I thought that no zombies got in. But when I turned the corner at the base if the stairs there were four dead zombies each with either a knife wound in their heads or said head virtually obliterated.

"Is it safe? Can we go?" Mark inquired.

"Yeah, lets move. To the mall right?" I was genuinely excited about this. People, actual people surviving in a mall. It's like Dawn of the Dead or something!

"Sure. Lets see if we can make contact with them before we go barging in, alright?" Kevin said. Being a smart ass again.

One door had been broken down at the entrance and not wanting to attract more undead we took another door, avoiding the broken glass. The zombies from around the car looked our way and began to stumble over. The zombie against the wall hadn't taken notice until one of them let out a moan. I raised my rifle but Dannie protested.

"No! If you shoot, then the massive crowd just across the street will hear us. You wanna fight _them_?"

"Alright. Get your knives." I ordered.

We then began the arduous and dangerous task of dispatching the undead by hand. Many squishy noises and one too many close calls later we were alone. We moved up to the train tracks again and sat down on the rails, thinking of ways to contact the people in the mall.

"Well, if we want to get their attention we should make loud noises." I suggested.

"_And_ attract a massive horde of zombies. We need to use light or something. A mirror or piece of glass..." Kevin interjected.

"I have an idea. Break a piece of glass off that train and climb up to the roof. Then we can do both!" Mark hit a home-run. Standing on the train meant the undead couldn't get us.

Kevin smashed one of the windows on the dead train and climbed in with Dannie. Me and Mark made headway on climbing up the train. Soon, Kevin returned with an armful of mirror shards from the bathroom and Dannie with two beauty kits. After climbing up she opened one and found a clam shell mirror and the other held only more makeup. Like beauty was a thing to worry about here. The wind was strong this morning but we had a picturesque view of the horizon. Smoke to the west, and clouds to the east.

I stood near the edge of the roof. "Are we ready? Kevin and Dannie, you got the mirrors set up?" They nodded in reply. Each had an array of mirrors in their laps and hands. "Mark, come here. I'm gonna need help to make us known."

Kevin and Dannie began to aim the mirrors to reflect sunlight at the sentries on the roof. One of them cringed and looked our way. _Time to shine_. "HEY! OVER HERE! HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could. I felt my voice crack a bit near the end and coughed.

"LOOK OVER HERE! WE NEED HELP!" Mark continued our debacle. The sentry that cringed sprinted to his friends and pointed in our direction. "GODDAMNIT WE NEED HELP HERE!"

"COME HERE! HELP US!" The zombies crowded around the mall began to disperse and head in our direction. It looked like over three hundred zombies began to shuffle over. I could see many more guys appear on the ridge of the mall and walk briskly back and forth. Many were dressed in everyday clothing. Some had on large jackets and one had a business suit on. "Alright Mark, I think we got their attention."

I looked for a sign of activity from the mall but couldn't see anything other than the zombies coming closer. At least we were safe on top of this roof. I turned to the group. Kevin and Dannie were hugging and Mark was laughing. I couldn't help but start to laugh, too. Soon, we were all laughing. We were saved! Not by the military or some official government or something but damnit it was close enough!

About ten to twenty zombies found their way to the tracks but even that couldn't ruin our moment of ecstasy. The screeching of tires emanated from the building as a big truck rounded the corner, taking out a few zombies. It drove onto the street and came to rest under the edge of the train bridge. The zombies had swarmed the truck in a matter of seconds as we juggled the possibilities.

"Jump down to the tracks, possibly break a bone and get bitten. Or rot to death up here. Yeah, I'm jumping." Kevin declared.

"Fine, lets all jump. No other choice really." Mark replied.

First Dannie, then Mark, me, then finally Kevin fell off of the train. The fall wasn't as hard as I thought. Maybe I lost weight running around and barely eating. The number of zombie on the tracks doubled to forty, eighty, and soon we had over a hundred zombies up here with us. The bad thing though was that the truck was in the same direction as the zombies.

"Fucking hell. Looks like we gotta run this thing." I said with as much disdain as I could.

The run wasn't far but it sure as hell was stressful. Running into a crowd of zombies to reach salvation. _I thought this only happened in over-the-top action movies._ Nope, it was happening now. There was at least ten feet between us and the zombie horde when we reached the truck.

"JUMP!" I shouted. Mark hopped the short fence and landed with a loud thud on the truck. Kevin was next. He literally lept over it and rolled as he landed on the truck. I looked at Dannie and she scrambled over the fence and onto the other side. She gripped the wall a second before dropping. A zombie fell at my feet and I scrambled over the fence and landed on the truck.

"I'll give that a 6. That's the best I can do." Kevin was having a field day with the snappy attitude today.

The truck lurched forward and headed back to the mall. I gripped the side as hard as I could as my hands slicked with sweat. I was on a moving truck swimming through a massive horde of zombies. The truck took a sharp left in to the parking lot. I heard a yelp followed by a thud. Panic-stricken I looked back to see Dannie on the ground. "DANNIE!"

Mark and Kevin looked back as Dannie jumped up and began to jog our way. Was she invincible or something? I slammed on the truck's cab to get it to stop. The driver slowed down to a halt in a fairly empty part of the parking lot. Dannie began to sprint towards us a the truck slowed to a stop and grabbed onto the side. "Grab my hand!" I shouted.

"Trying!" she replied. Her hand shot up and latched onto mine as the zombies came to the truck. Damn, they could be fast when they wanted to. A zombie's finger caught her shoelace and jerked her back a bit. She was mostly on the truck when her shoe came off and she was launched on top of me.

She rolled over and onto the truck, breathing so heavily I thought her lungs would explode. The adrenaline wore off as the truck pulled around the mall and into a loading bay. The driver, a balding man dressed in a polo and tan slacks around the age of forty or so, hopped out of the truck and banged on the large corrugated steel door. It slid up and a woman in her twenties wearing a lot-cut top and tight jeans motioned for us to come in. We dropped from the truck and ducked through the opening and into the store.

Inside were boxes up to the ceiling on metal shelves. A forklift sat to one corner and a set of double doors to another corner. Sears logos covered everything. Literally everything read Sears and was colored in their color scheme. The man came over to Mark and whispered something after shaking his hand. The woman looked at us and then to the doors, some emotion was on her face. Too little for me to read. After a short minute of standing around, staring, and glancing the man finally spoke.

"Hi. I'm Jason. Welcome to the Sanctuary."

_A/N: And that's chapter 10. It would've been longer, rest assured, but I thought anything after Jasons line would ruin what little grandeur I pulled together no matter how corny his line was. Well, seeya in another week!_


	11. Seeking Sanctuary

_A/N: Chapter 11 here just for you, my adoring mute fans._

"The Sanctuary?" I asked. It sounded like the corniest thing to name a... well, sanctuary.

"Yes, the Sanctuary." Jason replied. He began to walk to the door. "Come on. I'm sure your famished."

The woman looked at us one last time before heading over to Dave and through the door. We soon followed. _We're not even hungry_, I thought. We stepped into a back aisle of Sears lined with all sorts of paraphernalia for wood cutting, shaving, and grinding. The entire store smelt of rubber with a coppery scent in the background. Jason lead us through more aisles until we came to an open hallway. I was stunned when I realized the lights were on. Full and bright.

"Do we get a big bag of candy at the end of this tour?" Kevin asked, obviously trying to stir the pot.

"Jesus, Kevin. Not even five minutes in and you're already antagonizing people." Mark starts before he's cut off by Jason, "Try to keep your mouth closed for-"

"No, no. It's okay. I understand why he's skeptical of this. I mean, Hell, even I was. Everyone was!" Without another word we moved closer to the main mall. I could hear echoes shuffling feet, nailing boards, and boxes being moved around. Turning a corner I saw the off-white color scheme of the mall I remember. The Koi pond that adorned the area immediately in front of the Sears on the ground level was dry, even the fish were gone. We continued farther inwards past the food court which had a group of determined people boarding up the main entrance. Then we descended a flight of steps. Here Jason began to talk.

"About a week ago, when this whole thing started, the mall was all locked up. No one in or out. I guess they were renovating or something because of all the tools lying around. So a group of survivors, not unlike yourselves, found a way into the mall. After camping out in the back rooms they finally got the nerve to return to the main mall. And guess what."

"What." The group said in varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"There weren't any zombies."

"NO." Kevin shouted in mock surprise. Everyone glared at him except for the woman, still following us, and Jason, who shook off his sarcastic comment. We continued to the main atrium of the mall. There, a man dressed in a business suit was standing on top of the Starbucks shack in front of the glass elevator shaft and giving orders along the lines of "Over there!" and "Put that back there!"

Wooden crates and cardboard boxes lined the atrium with breaks allowing for people to be moved about. The man continued to scream orders before Jason shouted.

"Hey Will! We got some survivors!" The man looked our way and his eyes lit up. He hopped onto a crate and down to the floor and jogged over. He was an average man in what must've been his 50's. He had gray balding hair and wore a fine blue pinstripe suit with a red tie. Professional was an understatement.

"Hello, my name's William Henshaw. I see you already met Jason and Lydia. Well, enough chit chat, let's get you settled in." He leads us to the Macy's which has been transformed into a barracks or designated living space or something. Even after a week it still stunk if perfume. Along the aisles were empty sleeping bags, cots of all sizes and collections of clothing and old plates of food. Further along the crème colored tile floor were even more crates.

"What's with the crates?" I ask. Will turns around without missing a step continuing backwards.

"No idea. Maybe they were setting up some sort of holiday thing, fashion show, big promotional thing. I don't know." He turned back around and made a beeline for a relatively empty part of the store. A nice corner lined with shelves of polo shirts and a big poster of a white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes giving a laughing smile stared down at us.

"Can we get rid of the poster? It's kinda... I don't know." I begin.

"It's fucking creepy. I don't want some fake-ass model watching me sleep." Kevin always being the bright one.

"Oh sure. Just try not to make a mess. We need this place to last after all!" At that Will strolled back to the mall and out of sight.

I sat on a shelf and looked at our group. Mark, tall with slightly lighter brown hair than the first time we met, wearing the red polo and tan slacks from the first day we met at the library. Kevin, slightly shorter with a shaved head and beard stubble, in a slightly blood-splattered dress shirt with a red tie hanging limply around his neck with black slacks with dress shoes still shining brightly. Dannie with her dark hair hanging at shoulder length behind her in the leather jacket she always wore and jeans that always seemed too tight finished with an ironic T-shirt underneath. And finally me. Thick brown hair parted to the sides, complete with wings that made me look like an idiot, plain black hoodie with blood speckled on the front, blue jeans stained with blood and other liquids I don't dare contemplate what they are, and a pair of sneakers that won't just die.

"Well guys," I begin as I sit up, "Looks like we found a home."

Things were pretty rocky at first. People went into stores and grabbed whatever they wanted and brought it back to their "living space". Total anarchy when more than two people wanted the same thing. Plus the lack of a major source of food. There wasn't a supermarket around, just fast food stations. But things stagnated to a simple routine for mostly everybody. Kevin would wake up around sunrise and play soldier on the roof with the other sentries, sometimes he would take nights, Dannie would help organize and distribute supplies according to how much work was done, Mark and Jason were busy converting stores into living spaces, and I was left to help Will with running the place.

I was surprised he wanted a 15 year old to be his right-hand man at first, but I guess it was expected. One day he caught me looking through games at GameStop and struck up a conversation about games. He never played but he had a grandson who did. He asked me about some big titles and I filled him in on who made it and the general plot and timeline of events. Soon we drifted to simulation and tycoon games. I bragged about how many times I lead a successful city or company in markets ranging from trains to construction. So even though video games were far from reality and there was no real business sense required he drafted me in to the Sanctuary's higher management. With such a _prestigious_ placement I earned a few extra pillows and access to the semi-off limits areas like the roof and maintenance hallways.

Of course I didn't do anything substantial. I just ordered a few people around and advised Will on things. Like how the barricades in Sears were getting wobbly or more smoke coming from the west. But aside from the conditions outside the mall, things were very cozy inside. On Easter the 60-something people that managed to get to the mall over the last few weeks, including Mark, Dannie, and I, sat around a crude collection of food court tables and ate a wide variety of junk food from various stores and 'express' fast food places in lieu of a real Easter feast. Kevin was on guard duty again and didn't want to celebrate anyways. We spent the evening eating and remembering loved ones. Around this time my mom would drive me and my little brother to Grandma's house and we would run around and play games with our cousins. Maybe play Trivial Pursuit with my aunts and uncles. I always had so much fun.

A few nights later Kevin woke us up. He began to shake me and checked my face to make sure I was awake, then darted to Dannie to wake her up. Mark was stirring at the commotion and asked what on Earth Kevin was doing.

"There's people," he said vaguely. He turned around to face us as Dannie stood up from her pile of pillows, "I'm not shitting you like all those other times. There are _people_ outside!"

"People. You mean like good people? I mean, like survivors or whatever?" I managed to slur out. I was never a morning person. Much less a middle-of-the-fucking-night person. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my glasses from a shelf and began to meticulously clean them on my shirt. It was a new shirt I picked up that had a dirty orange lambda on it. Old habits die hard.

"No. People with guns."

"The military? 'Bout fucking time!" Mark exclaimed.

"No, not the military. _Far_ from the military. These guys showed up a few times before in the distance, never thought much. But now they set up a camp on a building across the highway and they seem hostile. They got people tied up and I saw one of them toss a kid over the edge and... and..." Kevin started to whimper a bit. I've never seen him even break under any sort of stress. I guess children are his weak spot.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm sure you were just seeing things-" Dannie consoled until Kevin cut her off.

"I AM NOT FUCKING SEEING THINGS! THEY THREW HIM OVER THE FUCKING LEDGE," Kevin took a breath and released a long, harrowing sigh. Some people began to wake up due to his outburst, "And... and the zombies got him. I watched as they tore him apart... Tore him as he screamed for his mother. Then... then a woman on the roof began to squirm and tumble around. And this big guy, he just casually walked over and shot her. They... they just fucking shot her!" By now Kevin could barely contain himself at this point as he fell into Dannie's pile of pillows weeping.

"Jesus, what fucking animals..." I say in astonishment.

"Well, we need to do something," Mark started, "I say we go to the roof and scout out these guys. Maybe there was a misund-" Mark stopped as Kevin stopped sobbing, about to scream at him for doubting the validity of his story, "Maybe we should just go to the roof and see for ourselves."

I donned my black hoodie, Dannie her jacket, and Mark a light winter jacket and we headed into the maintenance section where the roof access was. It opened with a creak and I was assaulted by a cold gust of air. Even in mid-April it was still freezing at night. It was dark but I could see a few gunmen around the roof but they were converged in a semicircle discussing something. I heard a few scattered words about "murdering psychopaths" and "poor child". Maybe Kevin wasn't lying this time.

One of the guards turned and came up to us. "Civilians aren't allowed on the roof." He said sternly.

"I'm Will's second-in-command. I think I have access, as do my friends." I said, arrogance on the tip of my tongue.

"You could be the President it wouldn't matter. Get outta-" He was cut off as Will interjects in to the conversation.

"Sean. What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here because Kevin woke me up screaming about a case of murder and infanticide. A bunch of guys on a roof of a building across the highway, if I'm not mistaken."

He sighs, "Yes, actually. Well, since you know this much you and your friends can stay. But don't interfere." He walks back to the semicircle of men and the chattering continues. The guard gives me a revolting sneer and follows Will. We set off for the edge of the mall facing the highway and catch glimpse of a small light on the other side of a sea of cars and zombies. There's a pair of binoculars and Mark grabs them before I can.

"Holy shit. He wasn't lying." Mark hands me the binoculars and I peer through them at the light. I see a group of men dressed in biker gear or punk or something sleeping in bags on the roof of an Olive Garden. Below lies a crowd of zombies feasting on two dark lumps on the ground. I can just make out an arm as Dannie pokes my ribs.

"Let me see." she demands. I give her the binoculars and wait for the situation to hit her. "Oh, oh my god..." And it hit hard. Dannie begins to cough and puts the binoculars down. We sit down on a vent and wrap our minds around what we just saw. Kevin comes up after what feels like seconds saying it's been over an hour and he got worried.

"Oh, okay then. I'm still tired, yeah." I rub my lower back a pinch as I stand. Dannie and Mark walk back down the stairs in silence. I continue to stand next to Kevin. "So, what do we do?" I ask.

Kevin looks at me, then looks back at the camp. He sighs long and hard and turns to me. "We can't do anything. Not a damn thing." He sits down, defeated. I shrug and walk back to the stairs when Will stops me.

"Listen, don't make a big deal out of this. I don't want to worry anyone."

"Alright. I see what you mean." I feel the weight of my eyelids as I head down corridor after corridor. Soon I get lost. _No map, you're fucking kidding me._ I find a small room off to the end of a hallway. _Am I underground?_ It's full of crates. _More crates. Whoopee._ I sit on one crate labeled with JC Penney's logos and designer labels. The room absolutely reeked of perfume. It didn't matter to barely conscious me, I lied back and closed my eyes. _When you're tired enough, anything's a bed. _I think to myself as I fall into a fitful sleep plagued with zombies, death, sorrow, and a deeper meaning I just cant find.

_A/N: And so ends chapter 11. Big thanks go out to SC Girl for reviewing! It's nice getting a review once in a while. Anywho, something big is happening. Something so big I haven't even thought it out entirely yet. And yeah yeah, I missed the update by 34 minutes..._


	12. Paradise Lost

_A/N: Yeah, yeah. I missed last week's update. Sue me._

_This is a pretty damn comfortable crate_, I thought as I slid from my dream world. I rubbed my hands over my face, taking care not to smudge my glasses, and through my hair. _I need a shower, how the hell do people get so greasy?_ My back creaked and groaned as I sat up and landed on the floor. I heard a bang from outside the door. _Looks like someone missed me._ I walked over to the plain gray door. I tried to open it but all I received was a sharp feeling of cold, stationary metal. I knocked on the door a few times expecting an answer.

"Anyone there?" I put my ear to the door, cringing as I realize just how cold the door is. I can hear thumps and bumps, but they're sudden and abrupt, and coming from farther away. I'm about to pull my ear away when I hear an explosion, not massive but enough to worry me. _Thumps and bumps and pops and booms what the hell's going on?_ Then a scream. Definitely female but it was so gut-wrenching it could've been anything. "Jesus Christ, did they get in?"

I jiggle the handle a few more times, totally locked in here. A cold emotionless gray room filled with boxes of clothes and perfume. A pipe ran against the back wall, gray also. A few stark fluorescent lights are all that keep me from darkness. _I gotta get the fuck outta here. Maybe a vent or a shaft or..._ A vent cover appears in front of me and I bend down to investigate. It was roughly 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Maybe enough to hold me. But it was protected by a cover that required a screwdriver. _Okay, flat screwdriver, flat screwdriver... Where the hell can I find a flat screwdriver?_ I hop on crates and search in between cracks to find just one screwdriver, anything to open the vent. Anything to free me from this dull prison before I starve.

My diligence is rewarded with a nail. "A nail, hehehaHA! A NAIL! Oh for crying out loud a NAIL. Well, I don't have a better plan." Sure talking to yourself is weird, but on occasions like this some silence-breakers are needed. The edge of the nail miraculously fit in the screw head. A few twists, dropped nails, and gratuitous cursing and the vent was off. I got on my hands and knees and crawled through the opening. It was barely enough to fit me and caked with dust. The soft booms and pops grew louder as I crawled through more and more ventilation shafts.

Soon I could see a faint light in the darkness of the poorly maintained air ducts. I crawled up to the vent and my heart sunk at what I saw.

Zombies, not a few or a handful, but hundreds, strewn across the atrium. I could see bodies belonging to people I've met but never really chatted to, a handful of guards' bodies, and even Jason couldn't handle them. His body was propped up against the wall with a crowd of zombies around him. Suddenly a motorcycle engine revved up from somewhere to my left. I saw a man on a bike with another guy sitting behind him drive through the atrium at maybe 40 miles an hour shooting blindly at the zombies. They grasped at the air where the bikers were merely seconds before and tumbled after them.

"This can't be happening. It just fucking can't!" The duct I'm in suddenly feels a lot smaller. _Gotta get the fuck outta here._ I hastily crawled through the vents and up to another opening, this one was in a shop that sold tobacco and leather stuff with a corny Native American theme to it. _Ah, but those goddamn screws._ I pressed my hand to the vent cover and gave a light push, nothing. I moved farther ahead and kicked the vent on my way, nothing again. I went farther and found a vent that emptied into a clothing store, a few zombie corpses and a group of bikers were chatting. I froze.

"Think we got all of 'em? Li'l bastards run fast" Said a fat man with a red bandana and denim jacket.

"I think we got every last one of them. Even them dead ones. Great job!" A thin man with long dark curly hair spat out followed by rambunctious laughter coming from the entire group. An explosion rang out from outside and the bikers turned their heads. "What the fuck was that?"

"Fuck, I ain't got a clue Cal. Maybe we should get outta here." Said the fat one again.

"Alright, you sissies pack your shit and ride back to base, I'll just be a minute." 'Cal' let out a dry cough as his group grabbed their bags and left. He walked over to the lingerie section and grabbed a handful of panties and spent a good minute breathing through them. After his moment he tossed the panties into his bag and took off after his companions. I kicked at the vent keeping me from the outside and to my surprise it fell off almost effortlessly. A maneuvered my body to face the vent and slid out and made a soft _thud_ when I hit the floor. My heart stopped as I heard heavy footsteps coming my way.

"Goddamnit goddamnit goddamnit Cal told me to pack my shit and of COURSE I forget it!" It was the same voice as the fat biker guy. I ducked into a rack of colorful spring shirts and listened intently for a sound of detection. Some rustling and more cursing followed. Then heavy footsteps coming closer. A hand reached over the rack and a handful of shirts lifted from the rack. I slowly lowered my body to the ground as the rack was nearly tipped over by the fat man who hastily grabbed the metal supports to steady the rack. _How the fuck has he not seen me? _I heard a chorus of pops come from the front of the store and a thud. "SHIT!" And with that the heavy man left the store knocking over another display stand.

I slowly stood up expecting a hail of bullets to rain upon me from some hidden assailant, but no bullets were fired. I ducked under the rack and got out, observing the store for anything I could use as a weapon. A metal bar sticking out from the wall caught my eye. Luckily it came right off, it was hard and light. Perfect for any easy targets out there. I walked over to the entrance, what I saw didn't surprise me. The mall was in shambles. The once orderly stores were either ransacked by the raiders or overrun with the undead. Most of the zombies were on the lower floor but a few caught sight of me on the upper floor and began to shamble onwards. There was a blazing fire at the far end of the mall at Macy's.

A shot rang out. A burning sensation creeped into my skull from my left shoulder and I fell to the floor, dropping my ad-hoc weapon. "GAH! FUCK! WHAT-WHAT THE F-..." My screams were muffle by my arm. _Jesus, Mary and Joseph this really FUCKING HURTS! Damnit! I always knew it hurt but not this FUCKING MUCH!_ Footsteps came from my backside followed by a pair of hands grabbing my shoulders. Whoever grabbed me had the good graces to whack the back of my head and I lost consciousness.

I came to in a dull bathroom chained to a pipe. _Oh, this is just like Saw! Not the time for movie references, no matter how topical_, I thought. My shoulder hurt a bit less, now it was more of a moderate sting than a full on 5-fucking-alarm fire. _Who did this?_

I cleared my throat. My shoulder stung and I could feel the warm trickle of blood seep down my arm. "Uh, hello? Anyone there?" A shuffle from a stall caught my attention. Light footsteps pattered on the floor. Then a fuzzy figure came to my view. _Wait, where are my glasses?_

"Looking for these?" Said a seductive female voice. She sounded playful and yet terrifying at the same time. What little information I could absorb with my eyes I figured her to be in her 20's, light skin, and had flowing brown hair. She wore a tight white V-neck shirt and a red ascot and skinny jeans cuffed at the ankle, making her look like one of those greaser girls from the 1950's. In her hand I caught a glimpse of my glasses. Then she put both her hands on the lenses and snapped them in half.

"Hey fuck you! What the fuck was that for? That could be the last fucking pair of glasses I ever have!" I scream at her. Whats this bitch's problem? She shoots me, knocks me out, chains me up in a dank bathroom and breaks my glasses! She leans in, flashing gratuitous cleavage. She is barely a foot away when I recognize her face.

"Lydia? What the hell?"

"Now that's not a very nice way to talk to a lady, Sean." She stood up and walked to one of the stalls. She opened the door and revealed a laptop computer resting on the toilet seat. There was a blue light coming from it with a few lighter spots and darker spots scattered. With a small click Lydia changed the color to green. I could make out a few scattered bits of text. Objective, progress, copyright 2011, not much more. Lydia closed the screen and turned. "Well, looks like my job's done. Have fun, Sean."

She picked up her laptop and closed the screen, grabbed a bag, and made for the door. Light flooded the room. I turned away from the door. Moans and the occasional pop emanated from the door frame. Lydia propped the door up and kicked something under the door, stopping it and leaving it open before walking off.

"I gotta get outta-" A small plastic cube was flung into the room and landed with a click. Then a loud siren screamed from the small box. I covered my left ear with my free hand and my right with my shoulder. _It's only a matter of time until the zombies get here._ The small box stopped generating that god-awful noise. It was replaced with a cacophony of moans heading my way.

"Fuckfuckfuckity_FUCK!" _My first reaction to imminent death was to jerk my arm as hard as I could and my back spasmed in pain. I could feel the hole through my shoulder ripping and tearing flesh every time I moved. I turned around to face the sink. I was chained to the pipe. I anchored my foot on the wall and pushed again. The pipe groaned a bit and water dripped out from a bolt. My hands shot for the bolt and began to turn it. It wouldn't budge at first but after a few seconds of pushing and more swears it turned ever so slightly. More pressure, more pressure, turning slightly more. A footstep caught my attention as a particularly well dressed zombie stood in. I froze in a moment of pure abject terror. _The zombie hadn't noticed me yet_. I continued to turn the bolt, praying for a miracle.

My prayers were answered with a loud _PING_ and the bolt falling off with water shooting out from the pipe. I fiddled with the handcuffs to free myself when the zombie turned to me, his features still too dark to make out in the silhouette of the door but I can guess that it was William. I stood, free from Lydia's trap, and barreled straight into the zombie. He fell down and I continued to run. Aisle after aisle of clothes and jewelry, perfume stands, purse racks, all blended together as I ran for the nearest landmark. I knew I was in deep shit. I had no weapons, no supplies, and certainly no place to go. Slowing down I recognized the low growl of a zombie. But this one sounded way too familiar. The zombie appeared down an aisle, a muscular man of 30-years with scratches across his chest and a ragged pair of jeans. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth dripping blood, and his face was a sickly raw brownish red.

He took a tentative step forward, then another, and soon he was sprinting for me. I ducked just in time as he lept into the air, probably aiming for my neck. He landed with a thud and jumped to his feet. We made eye contact and I bolted for the nearest door. The mall was gone, that was certain. And now here I am being chased by another freaking mutated zombie with no weapons or a plan. He tore after me and lept again, this time brushing a stray lock of hair and landing a few feet in front of me. I changed direction into another aisle, this one with fur coats and other winter-wear.

Sweat dripped from my brow. The door, a shining hole in the wall, came forth from the rows of clothes and advertisements and I changed my course once again. The zombie lept again and slammed into my back. I fell to the ground in an agonizingly slow fall. The zombie couldn't get a good grip on me as he rolled forward. I hopped up and sprinted for the door with the mutation hot on my trails. I hopped through a broken door and over broken glass and into sunlight. The zombie followed me but stopped about 10 feet into the parking lot. He let out a scream that reverberated from the walls and was so loud that zombies on the far side of the parking lot turned their heads. He jumped back inside the store and glared at me with those eyes. Those eyes were different, not like the gray and white ones of the undead but lifelike somehow. Something made them stand out. He stalked back inside as I stood dumbfounded.

The fatigue hit like a sledgehammer into a 4-year old as I fell to my knees breathing hard and panting. My lungs hurt from the large mouthfuls of air I was inhaling and my sides hurt from the exertion. I could feel my body shutting down as the adrenaline left my system. I was beginning to feel tired, really tired. _Are you retarded? You cant sleep here!_ Sometimes my brain can put things in really good perspective. I sat up, there was a crowd of zombies a couple of hundred yards away walking slowly to me. No mutations in sight thankfully. But nothing to spark an escape plan in me.

_I could always walk, the Zombie Survival Guide always said to walk. Plus you could do with losing a few pounds. Oh shut up. _I stood up weakly. My legs were like large stone pillars refusing to move. But with a few encouraging thoughts I moved my right leg forward, then my left, and soon I was walking to a wooden fence. Just beyond the fence was an average suburban home. White paneling with aesthetic shutters and the curtains drawn. When I came to the fence a whole other problem came to mind. _How on earth can I climb this?_ On any other day I probably could climb this fence, it had cross beams and was maybe only 6 feet tall, but today, well, not today.

I looked desperately to my left, trash piles, and to my right, a car. Without another thought I directed my legs to the right. I put a foot on the bumper and propped myself on the trunk, then on the roof, and then finally on the top of the fence, my left shoulder complaining all the way. I gracefully fell on my ass on the other side. I sat up and looked around, fenced in backyard with a trampoline and shed. The backdoor was closed and the windows closed and boarded. _Looks like someone at least tried..._

I tested the windows, they didn't budge. The backdoor was locked but not barricaded. I peeked inside the doors window and saw some cans of food, a bottle of water, and a few flies buzzing around the room. I couldn't help but become mesmerized by the flies. Even after all of this they still did their own thing. Totally uninterrupted. They flew in loopy arcs across the kitchen and over the food. I knocked on the glass with my knuckle. A horribly decomposed face slammed into the window. I let out a shriek and fell down to the ground. The monster was gnawing at the glass with what little of a face he had left. His left eye was gone and his right eye was left without an eyelid and looked like a prune. His face was a nasty mish-mash of reds and browns and greens and blues with exposed muscles and bone sticking out here and their. Amazingly he still seemed fleshy enough as he left a greasy stain on the glass with bits of flesh stuck on it.

His pruney eye kept following me as I moved about the backyard. I looked back at him imagining the smell of a greasy decomposed rotting mess like him. Needless to say I lost my lunch over my shoes. Though it was mostly bile. I sat on the ground in defeat. I couldn't stay here. I needed to get out of this stupid backyard, out of this stupid town, of this stupid island, and after all is said and done, off this stupid planet.


	13. Postmodernist Suburbanism

_Good news! I now have everything ordered and ready. Of course I still have to write it all but now I have the main story in line. Sorry for the spotty updates but writer's block is more perilous than I thought. So instead of a nice, organized update sequence, I'll just update whenever I can._

Five minutes of contemplation and I still had no idea what to do. Penned up in a suburban backyard, zombies in all directions, and no resources to speak of. I stood up and rubbed my forehead. It was slick from sweating and general hygienic negligence on my part. The shed caught my eye.

"Geez, how could I be so stupid! Sheds have everything!" I walked over to the shed and grabbed the handle. It opened with a creak a little too loud for my liking. Inside was an assortment of tools ranging from axes to shovels and a pickaxe of all things. I grabbed a relatively new looking axe and turned it over in my hands a few times. The blade was a shiny metal and the handle was a hard plastic and sported a pointed bottom. It was surprisingly light for its size.

I stalked over to the door. Mr. Hungry was still gnawing at the glass and occasionally banging on it for good measure. I looked at the axe in my hands, _I could hit the glass with the blade, maybe kill him too in one swing, or I could use the bottom and maybe have a better shot at bashing his head it, but if I miss.. Oh screw it._ I hopped up the steps and readied the axe. The zombie lifted his head to mine and we made eye contact. Well, half eye contact.

I swung the axe down. I watched everything in slow motion. The axe continued down, the glass pane split into uneven halves and the zombie moved forward barely an inch as the axe impacted with the top of his forehead. The axe hit bone and sent a quick shiver up into my arm before going in deeper with a loud _crack_. The zombie froze and fell limp. The axe slid out of my hands, apparently stuck in the zombies head. I heard the body hit the floor and the axe clattering to the tiled floor.

I stuck my arm through the broken glass taking caution not to slice open my arm and fiddled with the lock. A turn of a knob and the door clicked open. I stepped inside and pulled my shirt up to my nose. It stunk like rotten food, sour milk and rotting corpses all rolled into one and sold at wholesale. It was dark and musty inside. To my right was a counter covered in assorted cans of food, some opened and some still closed, a few jugs and bottles of water and a plate covered in rotten food. Beyond that was a basic kitchen, oven, sink full of dishes, and a refrigerator left open and empty. To my right was an archway leading to a dinning room left perfectly intact. To my front was another archway to the foyer and a set of steps leading up on the right.

Warm neutral colors covered everything from appliances to the walls themselves. A very plain, boring house. Sort of ironic really. Cozy suburban home reduced to a makeshift fortress. A pretty good one at that. No doors or windows were broken into nor were there any real signs of damage. But it was stuffy, even for mid-April. A breeze came in from behind me and made me shiver. I turned and eyed the corpse on the floor. It was wearing a college sweater with multiple tears and jeans.

I tapped it a few times with the tip of my shoe to make doubly sure it was dead. After a few kicks I was satisfied that I killed it and grabbed my axe and set it on the counter. I leaned over and took hold of the corpse's ankles and pulled him out of the house. He must've been at least 300 pounds because it took 10 minutes to pull him through a door and down some steps. After the ordeal he was unceremoniously laid upside down on the ground, limbs askew.

I stepped back up to the house and realized that I haven't checked any of the other rooms. The rest of the first floor was cleared. There was a television and a door leading to the basement. I began my ascent upstairs on the carpeted stairs. There was a door to my left with flower and butterfly decals. Down the hall were two doors, one of them open slightly. I continued, crouching, to the slightly opened door. I put my ear up to the crack and listened. I heard nothing. I pushed the door open slowly. It was a plain bathroom, sink, bathtub and a shower, and a toilet all in a soft pink fashion. Standing up I saw a bloody hand print on the counter and crouched back down. Who knows what could still be here?

Back in the hallway I moved to the other plain door and knocked lightly. Nothing. I knocked a little harder. Again, nothing. I waited for a minute and knocked again. Once again, nothing. I grasped the handle and opened the door. Inside sat a double bed with disheveled sheets and a comforter on the floor next to the bed out of my view. A dresser sat against the wall with a television on top. I made my way to the far side of the bed and slowed, it smelled like copper. _Blood smells like copper..._

I looked at the axe in my hands for reassurance I wasn't totally defenseless and headed back out into the hallway. The floral door had an ominous sense to it, only extenuated with a smattering of blood on the doorknob. I sighed. _There is no way there isn't a zombie here._ I knocked on the door, expecting a loud thud and a chorus of moans. No sound emanated from the door. I knocked again, louder and harder. The sound of sheets moving and a grunt sent me into a mild panic and I fell to the ground. Footsteps, slow and uneven, made their way to the door, then the knob turned.

I on the ground and sat awestruck as a zombie girl, barely even 8, stood in a Barbie pajama set and robe covered in dry caked blood. The flesh around her mouth was torn off and revealed a set of small bloody teeth. But what set me into a real panic was her eyes, they were white and sported a blueish glow to them. Another goddamn mutated zombie. What. The. Fuck.

Her eyes followed my movements as I stood up and barely clung to my axe. _Amy second she's gonna pounce and try to kill me, just... put the axe in front of you and prepare for any-_ My train of thought was derailed when the zombie opened her mouth and spoke.

"Go," was all she said. A thin arm pointed to the front of the house and the door. Her sleeve slid down revealing more gray flesh and a small, barely noticeable blue dot right where the doctor would administer a shot. It glowed with an inhuman glow and slowly dimmed and brightened in a rhythm that mesmerized me. I stood there for what felt like days before she moved a step closer, and shook her arm back at the front door. "GO."

"Ah, uh... ye.. yeah okay. Okay I- I'll go now." My jaw began to tremble as I stepped down the steps. It sounded like someone was rolling dies in my mouth with an industrial paint shaker. I hit the bottom step and turned back. The zombie girl was still watching me. I nearly fainted as she waved and cracked what I thought was a smile. With that she walked back into her room and closed the door. I took a deep breath. Then a few more. _What. The. Fuck._

I turned to the front door. The glass was covered with clothing and paint. I moved a tan shirt out of the way and my heart sunk into my stomach. Outside sat a Hummer with three guys inside and two more guys hanging around outside. But what really made my stomach turn was the motorcycles. Maybe not the motorcycles as much as the clothing. They were dressed exactly like the raiders. The men tearing apart my new home not even an hour ago. I looked away.

_How the hell did they get here? Are they looking for me? Why of all places did they choose here? Oh god what if they see me and are walking up right now. _I took a deep breath, looked back out of the window and cracked a smile. Two of the guys were pointing guns at each other for whatever reason and a short and fat man was standing in between trying to console the two. Both men stared deep into each other totally unaware of the chubby man trying to break up the fight.

The man on the right, tall and slim, held a shotgun and the man on the left, slightly shorter and stocky, held a sub-machine gun. Both faces grew from frowns, to sneers, to full on teeth-grounding war faces. The voice of the man in the middle who I recognized as the same man from the mall grew progressively louder until I could hear a snippet of his speech, "...If we keep fighting like this we'll never get back to civiliz-" His rant was cut off by the tall man firing his shotgun, tearing away the face of the other man. As he fell, the other man pulled the trigger of his gun and caught the fat man in the stomach and the tall man in his head. All three fell to the ground.

The fat man started to wail and rock back and forth on the ground. The two guys in the car started to yell at each other and waved their hands around trying to prove a point. The man in the passengers seat stopped and pointed past the other to something. Both men donned a worried look and the driver started the Hummer. I could hear the fat man scream, "_HEY! WAIT! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU-" _before the Hummer roared down the street and away. Then on the far side of the street lay a badly burnt body, twitching and snarling like a demented dog with rabies, _or another mutation._

The man saw the mutation too and grabbed for his fallen comrades shotgun and shot at the burned creature. The shots did nothing in the way of harm. The creatures spasms slowed until it was lying still on the ground. Then the fat man started cheering and making a fuss over his kill.

"YEAH! You stay down! Not gonna get me yet you motherf-" The creature rolled over and revealed its face. It wasn't really a face anymore, more of a sloppy mess of skin and flesh, almost like it was melted. Somewhere on its face a mouth opened and revealed a set of long fangs. The man whimpered and began screaming a long string of obscenities. _What the hell is he even trying to do? Scare it off?_ Whatever his plan was it must've failed horribly unless it entailed getting your head swallowed whole by a mutation and your torso blasted open. Blood sprayed across the street and onto a derelict car.

I cringed as his intestines were strung between the things fingers. It was strange, I remember specifically during moments like this music would play and try to make the situation worse, but that was in movies. A loud booming noise came from somewhere in the distance along with a scream loud enough to crawl through the door and into my ears. A middle aged male, probably used to screaming due to how hoarse he sounded, must've been seriously hurt. The monster turned its head towards the noise and roared, dropping the corpse comically on the ground, and curled into a ball. It began to rock back and forth before rolling down the street about as fast as a cruising car.

"Heh, heha, wha... What?" Just seeing a vicious undead monster tear apart someone would render most people emotionless or totally petrified but I managed to hold my emotional ground. But seeing it curl into a ball and roll down a street? I lost my marbles and fell to the ground laughing hysterically. The gravity of the situation fell like a ton of bricks when the door to the little girls door opened. I regained my balance and stood up, still laughing but transitioning to a cough. She looked at me and pointed to the door. "Yeah, I know. I was just, a little held up by... Oh forget it, thanks for letting me stay here in the mean time."

I turned back to the door and the zombie girl returned to her chamber. _What on earth could she be doing in there? _Normally I would walk in there and shamelessly go through everything but since it was being guarded by an undead 8-year old I'd retire that scavenger trait I picked op from various Fallout games. Outside a few undead had gathered around the corpse, 2 women and 3 men. The car seasoned with human blood looked almost golden in the glare of the early morning sunlight. Like a shining beacon of "You-can-get-out-of-this-place-if you-get-in-me."

_Okay, I run out and bash a few on the head, then hop in the car, hotwire it if I have to, then drive away. Oh, you can suddenly kill a bunch of zombies with an axe? And hotwire cars? And don't forget how and where you "drive away". _It's like a system of checks and balances in my brain. I constantly insult my ideas to refine them to the bleeding-edge of efficiency. A minute of back-and-forth brainstorming incarnated my best chance of survival. _Open the door, stand outside, scan for more zombies. If they notice you, dispatch them by swinging downward on their brain-cases until they're all dead. Then get in the car and search for keys. If no keys are found, close the door and attempt to hotwire. Good luck. Gee, thanks brain._

I sucked in a breath. It was warm and stale, but oddly cozy. The door opened with a satisfying click and cold damp air rushed in. One zombie who was eating the fat mans entrails looked up and began to stumble my way. I glanced left and right, no zombies aside from Seymour over here and his cronies. _Why'd you name him Seymour? Why not? He's getting close, kill it! _A swing of the axe and Seymour's head caved in. He fell to the ground with a small clinging metal sound. Two more zombies arose from the feeding frenzy and they were as easy as Seymour. The last two seemed to be wholeheartedly devoted to eating the man on the ground.

Stepping over to the car I glanced back to the zombies, the man on the ground was now a mushy pile of pink, brown, and red, the occasional limb being recognizable. _Great, you looked at the __mashed up corpse. Have fun trying to sleep._

The car must've been from 2008 or later. Lots of sharp edges and right angles. A sporty coupe in a medium sparkly blue, too. Luckily the drivers door was open and the inside wasn't ransacked or ruined by raiders or the undead. Cold black leather lined the seats giving the car an expensive feel to it. I sat in the drivers seat and checked the back row, no surprises. Slamming the door gained the attention of one of the zombies, but they continued to eat the corpse.

"Where the hell do people put keys..." My question was answered by a pair of keys falling from the sun shield and scratching me below my eye. _Those would've ruined my glasses, if I still had them, _I thought solemnly. _Wait, I don't have my glasses, I can barely see anything! Sure, maybe you'd miss a pothole or mine or something but if you can see the road and any major roadblocks you should be fine._ I put the key in the ignition and twisted it in the ignition. The engine roared to life and an assortment of lights came on across the dashboard. A screen lit up in the center console and greeted me with the Chevy logo.

No sooner had I gained a sense of invulnerability when death metal blared through the speakers making me jump in my seat and land a hard punch to the center console. Whatever I hit must've been the off button because the music stopped. _Thank god._

"Youch." I shook my hand loose trying to dissipate the pain. "Whoo, alright. First time driving, alone. After the zombie apocalypse, no OnStar, no parents to call, no help. Millions of zombies between me and safety. Let's do this." And with that I started the car down the road. It gripped well when I hit the gas after turning the corner down a back road and onwards to Manhattan. A leather jacket lay in the middle of the road, seemingly long forgotten.


	14. Not dead Yet!

_Wow. Hiatus is over now I guess. Anywho, more of the future story is organized. I ran it by a few people and they liked it so one could say it's finalized! A googolplex of huzzahs for procrastination!_

"Okay," I began, "How do _I_ get past _this?_" Manhattan lay before me. Flames spewed from countless buildings and sirens bellowed loud enough for him to hear all the way from the building he was standing on. Sighing I stepped off of a small metal box and walked the perimeter of the roof. A crowd of zombies swarmed maybe 20 or 30 floors below. I could only see a small reflection of sunlight off of the windshield of my car from Nassau. All sorts of colors melded in the horde below. The majority were wearing overcoats or wind breakers. A handful had riot armor on. One was even encased in a bright orange bio-hazard suit.

"Hoo, okay." I ran a hand through his hair, searching my mind to find a way down to ground level and a path through Manhattan. A small explosion came from the direction of the city. A large section of glass shattered on a tall building across the Brooklyn Bridge. Flames licked up an even taller building with a spire topping the monolithic structure. Gunfire in the distance pulled me from the depths of my mind. But again, it was nothing more than background noise to this new reality. Briefly I thought of my own parents and what befell of them. _Probably dead, _I concluded, _I seriously doubt they have any survival skills to live like this. Maybe it's better this way. Maybe we're all better-_

More gunfire erupted from the streets. But these were much closer than before. Light rapid pops and a few rhythmic medium pops. A sub-machine gun and pistol or two. Jogging over to the side of the building and peering down I spotted a group of three people. Two men and one woman were running and gunning down a side street. One of the men was carrying pieces of scrap metal. The group slowed near a large door. The woman and a man held off a few straggling zombies as the horde of over 200 zombies morphed closer. The third person was fiddling with a pad next to the door.

"Alright, people. Good. Are they good people? Should I yell? Screw it. HEY!" The shouts got the attention of the people down below. They raised their heads at him before turning back to each other. The man by the door made quite a lot of noise and was pointing his finger between the two others. Soon he totally abandoned the panel on the wall and was fully screaming at the people. Something about a time limit and a very hearty "We need the fucking parts" emanating every other head spin. The woman pointed to the man at the door and he closed the panel. She then pointed to the man holding off the few zombies and he nodded. The woman darted in the direction of the building I was standing on. The man jogged behind her but peeled off into a collection of low shops along a park to my right. The man who was at the panel went into the nearby alley and was on the roof maybe a minute later. _They're actually coming for me,_ I thought.

The woman continued towards me before hopping on to a bus and gracefully leaping across a few cars to a low ledge on the building. The man in the shops climbed up the fire escape and began shooting into the crowd of zombies. The man on the roof by the door spawned a scoped rifle and took down a few zombies that were closing in. I watched over the edge as the woman circumnavigated the lower level and stopped as a metal cart. She threw a lever and a motor began to whir and the basket was rising.

"Wow, do I feel like an idiot for not noticing that." I shout down at her. She gave me a thumbs up. Both of the men continued shooting at the zombies. There must've been thousands here but they did a fair job of curtailing their movements. By the time we got down though, there might be a little too many to just dart around. A few seconds pass and the cart reaches the top. I step on and take a breathe.

"My name's Toni," she began with a slight British or Australian accent, "Pleasure to meet you." She had rough blistered hands and was well tanned with a very curvy form. It appeared she was well aware of this and tried her best to show it off even after things went to shit. Her face was twisted in worry when she spotted my bloody shoulder.

"Sean," I stuck out my hand to shake but she shied away as gunfire reminded both of us where we were, "Don't worry, it;s just a bullet wound. Oh and uh, thanks. Hope I didn't screw up your plans or anything."

"No prob, the apocalypse isn't not gonna go away any time soon, might as well save as many as we can. We should probably fix that shoulder of yours up." The basket-window washer thing began its journey down the side of the building. Through the glass I glimpse rows and rows of desks, some in order, some thrown about, and the odd zombie or two. The window washer ride finally ended and me and Toni stepped to the edge of the lower roof. Below were hundreds, more like thousands, of zombies swelling and swerving around derelict cars and all sorts of debris. The moans and growls were like roaring ocean waves.

"Well, if you happen to know how to walk on heads we might just get out of this." A joke here and there can make any situation less peril.

"No, no. We have something." She pointed over to where one of the men ran into a store. A moment later an SUV came barreling out and drilled through the horde. It stopped 10 feet below us and the sunroof opened. The man from the store waved at us as zombies scraped against the windows and straggled onto the hood. One zombie almost made it into the sunroof before his head erupted into a fine puff of red. _Jesus Christ these guys are pros._

Toni crawled down the edge and landed on the roof before slipping into the SUV. I sighed. There was nothing I couldn't stand worse than falling. Much less falling 10 feet onto an SUV surrounded by zombies. But it was do-or-die time and I had to act fast. Without another thought I sat on the edge and slowly scooted forward a few inches before falling like a stone onto the roof. My legs went into the sunroof and I swear I felt the roof cave in a few inches. A bloody hand nearly swiped my face and I slid fully into the vehicle.

It was a Cadillac. The only thing actually giving it away was the monogrammed seats and logo on the steering wheel, every other characteristic feature was roughed up and replaced with all sorts of apocalyptic features. Gun racks, ammo boxes, even a small cache of food just in case. The windows were even barred and the doors were all but welded shut. The car started forward through the crowd when Toni began talking. "Ed this is Sean. Sean, this is Ed."

"Amazing you survived this long. I'd never expect someone as young as you to make it." Just like Toni he observed my shoulder wound. Toni explained I wasn't infected and that she just needed to look at it. Ed drove over more zombies and clipped a fire hydrant. Ed had a gruff voice like a construction worker and one hell of a strong Brooklyn accent. He had a smattering of 5 o'clock shadow and equally short hair on his head. But I wouldn't know if it was continuous what with the hard hat he had on. By what I could tell he was pretty muscular. Rifle fire continued in the background.

"Well I had some help from my... friends. I don't know where they are now. I'm pretty sure they didn't make it." I sighed. I've really come far, but in all honestly I knew there was even more to come.

"Well when we get back in, oh say 20 seconds, we can sort you out. Oh yeah, the guy on the roof is Michael. Just call him Mike, he hates being called Michael." Toni turned back facing the front of the car just as a zombie rolled over the hood.

"Why does he-Oh it I can wait." The worst time for questions is when people are under pressure. I always flip out when someone asks me questions during a test or some other pseudo-stressful situation. But I doubt I have many scantrons to fill out for a long, long time. The car continued up to the large metal door and stopped. Ed gave a reassuring shout to whoever had control of the door and it opened. A few zombies followed us in but they were taken care of by Toni's pistol at a speed and accuracy I have never seen.

By the end of the ordeal we were in a cavernous room. Behind us was the door, at the far end was a platform with a few doors leading to what used to be offices over a gated tunnel leading to pure blackness, and along the walls were semi-raised platforms with all sorts of tools. But the main attraction was the MTA subway car sitting on the rails in the rough center of the building.

"Let me guess. This was an old metro repair station or something? Huh, lucky find." The windows were pretty high up letting in the noon sunshine albeit slightly duller what with the grime and smog or something. The walls were mostly red with yellow edges along the top and orange along the bottom. Toni , what a strange name, walked up a flight of stairs and into one of the rooms. Ed motioned for me to follow him onto the side platforms. He waved his hand at the train and I realized this was no ordinary MTA train car.

First and foremost it was covered in graffiti. Colorful, artistic graffiti, not gang signs and explicatives like the majority I've seen. But second to the graffiti was the iron bars covering the windows and the corrugates metal sheets over the wheels. This thing looked more like a moving fortress than a mode of transportation. _Oh, they must be trying to move in it or something._ "What's the train for?"

"Stuff," Ed replied nonchalantly but then turned slightly hostile, "Stuff I'm not sure we can tell you just right now." Wow, right off the bat I'm an outcast. It's like Junior High all over again. I followed Ed up a flight of metal stairs and by a few of the offices. A mess of pillows and blankets lay in the first one, the next one had a map of the NYC Subway with tacks and marks all over it plus some complicated looking radio equipment., and the third one held Toni drinking a cup of coffee while on a counter next to a dangerous looking coffee machine and Mike skimming through a magazine about weddings or fashion or something leaning on a table. Mike had a pair of plastic framed glasses on with quite a full beard. He had a fairly lanky form to go with it. He glanced up and looked me up and down stopping at my bloody shoulder. Toni assured him it was just a bullet hole and nothing to worry about in the way of zombie infection.

Stepping into the third room I felt all eyes were on me and I sunk mentally into myself, absorbing where I was, what I could do in case things turned sour for whatever reason, and breathing in the air which had a peculiar smell of blue-collared labor and desperation. This place held a cozy feeling for some reason.

"Alright," Toni began, "Sean, this is Mike. He's our sharpshooter and sort of our planner. I mean, he doesn't give good ideas but he can pull together a way to do anything."

"Pleased to meet you." He stuck out a hand while shooting an annoyed glance Toni's way which she brushed off with a slight chuckle. I hesitated a bit and gave nothing more than a weak handshake.

"Likewise. Uh, before I get lost in all this, can I ask what the hell's going on? I hear screaming about parts and stuff from up on the roof and that train down there and-" I shut my mouth. I was rambling again like I always do around new people. Sort of a coping mechanism for the nervous fear that I usually get. "Sorry, basically I'm just wondering what's going on with you guys."

Toni slid off of the counter and stepped over to a bag on the table by Mike. After shooing him away she reached inside and pulled out a tourist pamphlet for Manhattan. She flipped through a few pages as Mike moved to my left with Ed on my right. Suddenly a map folded down from the small pamphlet and grew into a squarish piece of paper at least 100 times larger than the original pamphlet. How a tourist could unfold and refold that conveniently while gawking at skyscrapers and buying trinkets was beyond me. After a minute of fumbling and an exasperated sigh from Mike responded with a sneer from Toni, she finally sorted out the mess of paper and turned it around.

"Alright, _we_," She moved her hand to a red star near the border between Kings and Queens, "...are here. And our target," She moved her hand to the other side of the map labeled 'New Jersey', "...is over here." She dragged her finger in between the red star and another star on the New Jersey side on a thick red line that started on the star, looped south along Brooklyn by Coney Island, headed over the East river and into Manhattan, ran around the financial district before shooting north and into Penn Station before veering to the west and over to New Jersey. "Raise your hand if you're confused."

I raised my hand. "By train?"

"You betcha, deary. We're gonna ride through this mess and come out without the least bit of damage." She began to fold up the map with a slight hint of satisfaction on her face. Like how a child feels after presenting their artwork to the adoring parents.

"8 million people, 8 million zombies. 8 million zombies in dark tunnels under a burning city which is probably blocked off by other crashed trains. I can see the logic but how can you be sure?" Toni stopped folding the map and eyed me with a mix of understanding and tiredness as if she has done this all her life.

"Ed works these tunnels, they shut down the metro right?" Ed nodded. "See, they knew well beforehand that shit's gonna go down so they stopped all the trains at the stations. But a few of them are out there on the tracks, yeah." I remembered Kevin's story. All those people trapped in trains in the dark besieged by the undead. But I thought that all hope was lost when it came to the tunnels.

"Aren't there more direct routes through the city though? I mean, you're going all over the damn city there." Toni finally gave up and tossed the unfolded map onto a table. She grabbed her coffee and pointed to Ed.

"You see," He began, "The subway ain't some sorta network of tunnels without ways to tell what's goin' on, it's kinda like the uh, the nervous system. Electrical signals and stuff can tell which parts are still workin' and which ones ain't through the computer. As you can see up on the map, that's the only workin' path through Manhattan. Anyways back before you were screamin' for help we were getin' parts to get the train through. There's no power in the rails so we're kinda left in the dark without a good motor. Plus a few other things we need. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to the train."

"I should try the radios again, I doubt anyone's on but it's worth a shot. We got one guy yesterday all the way from D.C. Talking about bombs and some government conspiracy. Freakin' loonies is what they are. Then I'll get to work on your arm." Toni sauntered to the door and headed right. I sat down at one of the chairs and put my head down. Today was just to much to handle. I wake up to a war, drive a hundred miles, manage to strand myself up on a building in the middle of a freaking city and get adopted by another survivor group. I swear I can't last one second without someone else next to me. But the one thing bugging me the most is the lack of hygiene. My hair was stiff with grease, sweat, dirt, and all sorts of bodily fluids. All sorts of glands on my body secreted horrible smells and my skin was tanner than it ever was before.

But there was some good news. I must've lost at least 10 pounds since this whole thing started.

A/N: Hey! I'm not dead! Once again, sorry for the hiatus. Oh who am I kidding I got lazy and backed up with all sorts of exciting things like sitting around, sleeping, and eating. Also Dead Island.


	15. Could Be Worse

_ Ah procrastination, my old friend._

I had another one of those "too real to be a dream" dreams that night. It started out with me waking up in a bright room in some sort of house. I walked around a peaceful town for a few minutes before it was besieged and overrun with the undead. Then I was on a helicopter punching people and we crashed. After the crash I came to in Times Square but with so many more lights than before. Even the cars had lights all along their sides. Then another horde of zombies appeared from somewhere and I was thrown into a hole. The hole was lined with all sorts of buttons and lights and the occasional lever. I pulled one and I felt myself waking up with a bright flash of light.

"C'mon then. It's right about eight o'clock and we should get busy." Grumbling I stood up_._ The tile floor was incredibly cold to my feet, but not as cold as the metal grating of the walkway. Toni and Ed were talking about tactics and guns and whatnot as I passed by them in the planning room. Mike was leaving the break room with a coffee and turned in the doorway to the planning room. I sighed and started to look around for something interesting to do.

One of the windows was low enough to see out of if I stacked a crate or two. Outside to the west lay Manhattan, The Center of the Universe. I doubt anyone still refers to it that way though. Flames still crawled up high rises and smoke still billowed from its once iconic skyline. I cursed myself for not putting on my glasses and missing every little detail but the burning frustration turned to Lydia. Shooting a child in the back and breaking his glasses. Who does that? Seriously!

A vending machine sat a few yards away in the corner of the catwalk, which I now realized ran the entire perimeter of the cavernous maintenance station. It didn't have any power but a screw driver could help convince it to give out some soda. I walked back to grab a screwdriver from the break room when a slam and a feral growl made me jump into the wall like I was dodging bullets.. It continued, metal rattling and more screams emanating from below me. Toni, d, and Mike all came running out of the planning room. Toni looked over the edge and slapped her forehead. Ed shrugged and went back into the sleeping room for what I presumed was a gun. Mike glanced at me before turning his head down.

"Aw fuckin' Hell, those fucking zombies are back. Pain in my arse they are..." From the sleeping room I heard a lethargic 'Pain in _your_ ass?' from Ed. Toni mumbled a few more complaints and donned her gear from the bedroom, if one could even call it a bedroom. Technically it was a place to sleep, but I wouldn't call it a bedroom. More like a sleeping chamber but that was just ridiculous to call it. Maybe just the sleeping room or something. Ed returned with a pistol and made his way downstairs, a few pops signaling the undeads demise. Mike put his head in his hands.

"I bet this happens _all_ the time." I awaited a response from someone but was rewarded with another slam and more growls followed by more gunfire.

Breakfast was pretty plain. Coffee, frozen breakfast sandwiches cooked over a fire, and some vacant chatter about what to do after we pass Manhattan. Everything seemed quite depressing until it was hit with a curve-ball from Toni.

"So Sean, what's your story?" I just swallowed another bite of my sandwich and chased it with a gulp of coffee, it was bitter and getting cold. Mike and Ed kept eating but glanced over waiting for a response.

"My.. story? You mean, how I got here or something?" Toni nodded the affirmative, I took another bite and began. Everything from waking up and showering plus my last bagel back in March up to the raiders in the mall and trapping myself on the roof. I tried my best to fill in the holes but they came usually after I had passed that part. It felt like everyone had the general idea of my misfortune, though anything happening nowadays could be considered misfortune. "So what about you guys?"

Toni told us her story first. She was from Australia on some "see the world" educational experience. She missed her flight a week prior and was waiting for another flight back to Perth where her sister lived with her when the infection hit. She stayed in her hotel room for a month before hopping along roofs and making it here where she met Ed. Then Ed began about his story. He was an MTA worker or administrator who chose to stay here when things went South. He had no family to speak of so loss was one of the things he hasn't experienced yet. Mike had a similar tale. He was in an art college when the dead rose. He tried to contact his parents and siblings but they had escaped by plane to some island in the Mediterranean and abandoned him. Ed and Toni actually found him pinned by a mutated zombie in a grocery store. He was no more than an inch away from death when the things head blew off. Then they found me.

"And so now you guys, well, I guess it's _we_ now, are trying to escape Manhattan and make a break for it on the mainland." Everyone nodded again. "So where do we start?" Toni leaned over and slapped around on a table for a piece of paper. On it was a list with a few strange things on it. Large electricity generator, snow plow, some car batteries, some sports equipment, floodlights, and barbed wire. Ed began to explain.

"Alright, so we gotta get this stuff to get the train through Manhattan. A generator to power the thing, snow plow to push shit outta the way, car batteries for the flood lights and stuff, and armor for... whatever might hit us before we get outta the city. Raiders, the odd fallin' thing or plain old assholes.." He took the list and folded it into his pocket. "We were doin' a run when you started screamin' for us. We got the stuff though, it was a few engine parts from another depot down by Coney. That thing's been outta commission for a while so a lotta the parts got rusted out or scrapped for other trains." He stood up and was halfway out the door before he turned, "Oh, and today we're goin' for another piece. We gotta get this thing goin' soon before things get any worse."

We all stood up and followed Ed into the second room, the one with the charts and graphs. _Chartsengrafs,_ I remembered from some unused pit of my mind. I sat in an office chair and waited for everyone else to take their spots as Ed stood next to a large map of New York City with more tacks and dots on it. "'Kay, we got a Home Depot warehouse over here," Ed pointed to a little blue star by the Kings/Queens border a little to close to Manhattan. _Oh boy, that'll be one hell of a hassle, _"...there should be a couple of generators there, plus the floodlights and barbed wire. Over here," he moved his finger to a large gray blotch, "should be a snow plow just sittin' around. And ov-" Mike cut him off.

"That's JFK. You sure it's safe to even consider going near there?" Ed took an exasperated sigh.

In a tired voice he explained, "No. I doubt it's safe. But where else do we know a freakin' snow plow's sittin' around? We don't. So we're goin' to JFK, deal with it." His hand moved much closer to the red star representing our base, "Over here's a bunch of cars in a car-park. Plenty of batteries just lyin' around waitin' for us to grab 'em. And the armor, uh..." His hand danced over the map and came to a stop on the edge of a green polygon, "Yeah all sorts of sports armor is here, sporting goods and stuff. Alright, which one first?"

It was a lengthy discussion about which one we should hit first. The warehouse, although extremely close to Manhattan, was in an industrial area and shouldn't have droves of zombies nearby but there could be all sorts of chemicals and fires going on there. It would also knock out three things from our list. The snow plow would be a pain in the ass to get with the probable collection of thousands of undead milling about and the added hazards of gasoline in the tanks, fire, and the horrifying "zombie sticking its head out of the window and biting you" scenario. Oh yeah, and it's probably a thousand tons. The sports gear which I thought was entirely unnecessary and stupid, was _theoretically_ in a store along Prospect Park. But in the end we decided that getting the armor was the most important thing first considering we could use it for other supply runs in case things got hairy. It was also the easiest run to do being so close and a quick stop-and-go.

Maybe it was the humidity, maybe it was the heat, but I was sweating buckets into my hoodie. Why did I never take it off? All day every day people would question why I did. Hell, even now I refuse to take it off. I think now instead of a "security blanket" mentality it was more of a "last token of my old life" thing. _Last token of my old life?_ My old life was certainly over. No school to go to, no friends to screw around with, not even a place to call home. The depot is sort of my new home but it was just so alien. Sleeping on the hard floor coupled with the bangs of a crashing civilization and the undead at our doors. Gathering a few needed articles I followed Toni hoping she knew what to do. Our plan was to take the SUV down a few streets, hop out, grab the stuff, and hop back in. Far from something Patton would've thought up but in this case it'd have to do. A pistol on my hip, a shotgun on my back, and my gut somewhere between running and screaming.

We all piled into the SUV, Toni driving with Ed up front and me and Mike in the rear. The car drove around the train and out of a back door I hadn't noticed. The street was pretty barren aside from the burnt out cars and scattered debris. Manhattan still burned in the distance. Seeing the city burned sparked something inside my brain. "You know, it's awfully strange how fast things went to shit. I mean, one day I went to school and the next day I was running for my life." This was probably not the time for conversation.

"I think we missed the sale." Mike stared at the ruined storefront, mouth agape. Ed paced around the car mumbling swears while Toni giggled like a madwoman. The store, or what was left of it, was totally ransacked. Every window was smashed, a lone baseball bat lay smashed to bits on the sidewalk. I couldn't believe it myself. Mike stopped Ed and asked if there was another store nearby, but he shrugged and resumed his walk. Toni took a few breaths and leaned on the car trying to regain her composure. A collection of feral growls roused everyone's attention. A small horde of about 50 zombies prowled down the street in our direction at about 500 feet.

"Maybe there's something inside." I had to hurry, who knows what's inside and what could happen outside. Glass crunched under my feet as I drew my pistol. Goddamnit, how do I hold this thing? I remembered from the movies that people always held their pistols with two hands and pointed down. But where the hell was the safety? Oh, there it is. Clicking the safety I briskly moved down an aisle. Baseballs, footballs, tennis balls, balls, balls, and more balls. A soccer ball sat in the middle of an intersection of a few aisles. Don't kick it, don't kick it, for the love of your grandmother _don't fucking kick it._ I kicked it. It flew over a counter, rebounded off of the wall, knocked over a stand holding the loudest materials known to man and slammed into more shelves holding even louder objects. Then something deep from inside the store roared. _Oh sweet Jesus I TOLD YOU NOT TO KICK THE BALL._ Grunts and stomps moved from the left to the right and back again while I stood, frozen with fear.

"What the hell was that?" Mike and Ed came running in. The stomping and grunting became progressively louder until I could see a gigantic man, maybe 7 feet tall, totally ripped, break down a door. Just wow, this guy must've been a linebacker or some sort of human/gorilla hybrid or something.

"Guys? What's going... on... Oh. Oh FUCK!" Toni didn't need much to propel her out of the store and back into the SUV. The zombie, or mutation or whatever, eyed us. It moved from me, to Mike, to Ed, then between us for a few more seconds. Do we move? Do we stay here? What do we do? Maybe it's like those T-rex's from Jurassic Park, don't move and they can't see you. That was quickly proved false as the mass of muscle roared once more and rocketed towards us. Ed grabbed my collar and pulled me to the ground milliseconds before this massive prick of an infected human flew through the air where my head used to be.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I tried to stand up but my hand slid in a puddle of, ugh, I don't want to know. My second attempt was much more successful. So was the muscle-head's. His overdeveloped shoulders impacted into my chest knocking the wind out and sending me to the ground once more. Things moved at ludicrous-speed from then on. All I could sense was someone picking me up, screaming, and the horde was much, much closer. Ed had picked me up with the help of Mike and they tossed me into the car. Toni floored the gas and we were off. I propped myself up on my arm and looked out the back window. That _thing_ was still jumping after us, followed by a small pack of running zombies. Oh god now they run. My stomach buckled and I vomited over the back seats.

"Oh, come on! Who's gonna clean that up!" Ed made a few hand motions out of frustration and sighed like a slashed tire. The truck turned a few more times and I vomited again. I felt like absolute shit. First, this was my first raid or whatever you could call it. Second, I got us chased out my some freak of zombie-nature all because I couldn't hesitate to kick a freaking ball. Third and lastly, I was just impacted with a few hundred pounds of flesh in my torso. That hurts, a lot. Plus I vomited twice. Not a good day. No siree, not a good day at all.

I'm a bad luck omen. Nearly everyone I've associated with is dead. My friends, my family, even those that I've just walked past ended up dead one way or another. The tires screeched again as the car swerved to the right. I felt myself slide a few inches into the guns. Ed shouted something about women drivers and Toni backhanded him. The car swerved again and a body flew over the windshield leaving a nice pretty blood splatter. Toni shouted some more curses and darkness consumed the car.


	16. Jailhouse Blues

_Writer's block is a very scary thing. There are times I just open up the document and stare at my screen and maybe getting in a sentence or an edit. I have the ideas, jeez, they're all backed up in my head. I'm just missing that oomph to really get going. Ah, some day..._

"Where are we?" God, my first day scavenging and it goes worse than than invading Russia in winter. Now we're in the dark. "No seriously, where are we?"

"A garage." Ed had a way of saying one thing and conveying multiple other feelings. This one told me to shut it and go back to muttering about vomit and the apocalypse. And another thing, this apoca-Wait. A garage?

"We're in a garage? Why a garage? I thought..." I let my words drift to the floor as I waited for a response. Oh great, more silence. I'm really making some good friends here. Toni sighed and explained something about "hiding out and waiting for the zombies to pass" in a somber, tired voice. It made sense, we attracted what could be thousands of the undead. But what surprised me was that these guys, or in the spirit of camaraderie, we, have a hideout besides the depot. Stepping out of the car I realized why I shouldn't be so surprised. The 'garage' was barely able to fit our car and a work bench. A set of rickety stairs led up to some unseen room beyond the front of the car.

Mike trudged up the stairs with Toni in tow while Ed moved around the car inspecting the damage. I had no idea where to fit in here. Everyone else seemed to have some sort of job to do and here I was dead weight. I sighed, this wasn't gonna be easy. I don't know how many times I've said that since day one. Gunshots rang out from upstairs. _Oh shit._ A loud thud followed by more gunshots. Ed darted up the stairs and disappeared. Great, now we're all gonna die. A few more gunshots - _why so many?_ - and one last thud. Light footsteps bounded down the stairs and Toni stuck her head out.

"All clear." As quick as she came down she jogged back up the stairs. Lost in thought I followed her to an open door. Through the door was an office area decorated with racing memorabilia, weird plastic floors, and large banks of windows facing the street. The office must cover the building next door because of how much larger it was than the cramped garage. A couch here, a desk there, and a door leading to another office. Probably the owners office or something. Toni was dragging a hefty looking corpse from the office with a few red spots seeping through his back and one large purplish mass on the back of his head. Mike was rooting through another corpse's pockets and Ed was browsing through some files on a bookshelf.

Through the pervasive smell of rotting flesh the scent of plastic was a close second. Glancing through a few office windows yielded nothing. No guns, no food, and fortunately no hidden zombies. They've been getting a lot uglier recently, too. Generally their faces have gotten all gray and saggy, plus the blood is long dried, making them look more and more like the zombies you see on TV and in movies. As if being ejected from the life that was once all you knew wasn't surreal enough...

I arched my neck to see Toni had dragged the corpse to the window and opened it. I stifled a giggle as she tried to lift the hefty man out the window. Lots of huffs and puffs, more than a few curses plus some slang I've never heard before and she gave up with the body lying on a table about a foot below the windowsill. I guess she heard me giggling because she shot me a death glare the likes of which I've only seen in my worst nightmares. Before something, if anything, happened Ed tossed the man out of the window with little effort. Toni muttered a quick thank you and began rooting through some boxes. Mike, apparently finished robbing graves, hoisted the corpse up and out the window faster than Toni but with much more effort than Ed had put in. We moved about in silence for some time before Mike brought up a few concerns.

"We need food, water, and a plan. I don't think they store any kind of edibles in a garage. At least on the scale to feed four and a half people." Four and a half?

"Why the extra half?" Ed peeked out of a pile of files awaiting an answer. Toni glanced at me then back to Mike with some sort of apprehension. Not the good kind either. Did she know something-

"We need to address the elephant in the room," He began, motioning to me, "This kid, _this one fucking kid_, has managed to derail our WHOLE fucking plan and now we're trapped miles from home _because of HIM._" His face was slowly turning red. A vein showed itself prominently on his forehead. Why was he so angry all of a sudden? One second we're throwing corpses out the window and now Mike is screaming at me -no,_ everyone_- at the top of his lungs. Ed gave a smirk at his sudden outburst and turned away. Toni got up from her seat on one of the couches and perpetuated the argument.

"Who the fuck are you to be givin' orders? Who the fuck do you think you are to be puttin' the poor kid down? He's gone through enough shit as it is!" Whoa, where'd this come from?

"Oh so we're supposed to hold him higher than ourselves? We've _all_ been through catastrophic shit! This is the apocalypse! Why should _I _sacrifice myself for _him_?" I slowly started to skirt around them. Mike and Toni were locked in tunnel-vision against each other. A train could crash into the building and kill all of us and their ghosts would still be arguing without any idea of what happened. The yelling increased in intensity, insults were flung backwards and forwards. I bumped into something that fell over with a whooshing noise. It was the large stack of files Ed was working with for whatever reason. He let out an exasperated sigh, one that didn't seem entirely because of my clumsiness. Toni and Mike were still at each others necks, the insults getting more and more hostile.

"They do this all the time, don't they." I said under my breath, or just low enough for Toni and Mike not to hear. But a jet engine could go under the level they were at by now. He gave an affirming shrug and returned to his papers. "What're you doing?"

"Goin' through some of these files. Interestin' stuff. But not as interestin' as watchin' those two go at it. Just you watch, one a dem's gonna stomp off after sayin' somethin' then we all go to bed." Sure enough Mike screamed something about setting off on his own before stomping into an office. Toni gave a bark of a sigh and fell onto one of the couches, petered out from that fight. "They usually go at it every other day. Lucky you got to be the center of this one."

"_It's an honor._" Slowly stepping around the room did nothing for my mind. Right now the words spoken about me were swimming in a pool of guilt and self-pity, splashing into my conscious and giving me a little weight to my chest. I hadn't even done anything wrong and I feel bad. Sundown came curtly as did the howls of the nocturnal undead. Lights off, heads down, and mouths shut we, _we_ as in me, Ed, and Toni, unrolled a few sleeping bags and settled in for the night. I knew Mike had to be somewhere in the building but the specifics were unimportant. What mattered was formulating a plan to get out. Although I would hardly call myself a tactician sometimes I had good plans. Running around and flanking or sky bridges or blowing things up, usually I never needed these plans considering they were formulated while half-asleep during a particularly boring lecture. But plans were useless without communication. Communication, _com-un-i-cat-ion_, talking, speaking, planning, et cetera. Hard to form plans when we were torn apart.

Convoluted schemes of Trojan horses and decoys lulled me to an easy sleep. What little I dreamed centered on a central conflict that pushed us closer to an edge. My conscious brain would see it as a interpretation of the fight, which in all honesty I supposed it did. But waking up was always my most hated part of the day. Whether it be by the irritating buzz of my phone on my nightstand, the horn of a car, or the howls of the undead, I never _ever_ liked waking up. Maybe it stemmed from knowing I had to shower and go to school, maybe it was slipping out of dream-world and having to face reality, not like I couldn't it was just fairly dull what with the monotony, or just plain old being a lazy bum who didn't want to leave the warmth of my bed. Even this sleeping bag was warm. It was hard to wake up from such a comfy situation. At least I thought so.

"Come on. We shouldn't wait." I followed this new person through a field. The woman had a ghostly aura only complimented by her smooth voice. She had these green eyes that must've been too large for an average human. She turned and began to run up a small beaten dirt path, long brown hair flowing behind her. "You have a lot of ground to cover. Don't stop now!" She taunted. I awkwardly stepped forward to the tree which only recently came into existence following her. Everything about her was flowing. Her hair, this dress she was wearing which flew a good five or six feet behind her, even the light emanating from her very body. The light grew in intensity before puttering out. I walked up to her, this time she didn't run away. Something drew me closer and closer to her. It seemed we were about to kiss when I felt my head absolutely burst with pain.

Everything happened at once. Men in masks were moving around the dark room shouting and waving lights around. I heard Toni scream something about 'sodding wankers' before being led out by two men. They held her arms behind her back and her legs were flailing around hopelessly. A dawning horror crawled through my brain when I saw Ed's unconscious form slung over a mans arms. Two men, one with dark skin and a shaved head, quite tall in fact, and another man that was tan with a short crop of hair at the top who was maybe an inch or two shorter than me, grabbed both my arms and wrenched them behind my back. My shoulder spasmed, still not used to the hole in my flesh, which sent a shiver throughout my body. Maybe I have some nerve damage now. Gee, thanks for that. I don't even know it it was Lydia who shot me. It could've been one of those barbarians, yeah, barbarians sounded about right, got lucky and nicked my shoulder. Well, _nicked_ was quite an understatement. Toni shot me a worried glance. I think she was thinking about Mike and where he went off to. Seemed like a good use of brainpower. Maybe he ran off before these... people caught us. I turned to Ed, he was still out cold. I turned back to face a man hidden behind a gas mask. This guy looked like a world-class freak. Black military boots, black pants, _maybe they're cargo pants_, a black shirt with a red symbol on it. It looked like an 'A' in a circle with the horizontal line stretched beyond the circle. Oh wow, it was the symbol for anarchy. _Of course, the cliché bad guy HAS to be an anarchist, right? Yeah. _This look was finished off by a long and dramatic looking duster, once again black. He even had a freaking cowboy hat on. An anarchist in a post-apocalyptic New York City with a _cowboy hat._ He removed the gas mask which was black too, _Jeez this guy must LOVE black,_ to reveal a thin white face accentuated with a goatee. He even had the grace to remove his hat in some kind of macabre gentleman act. He had very long straight dark brown hair going far beyond his shoulders behind him. _I wonder how long it took to straighten all of that. I bet his sister was pissed when he busted her hair straightener._ He cleared his throat and spoke in a self-assured tone. _I hate this guy already._

"You people have intruded on our territory. Since there is a severe lack of law enforcement we have taken the law into our own hands. We're taking you into custody." This guy must get off on listening to himself. 'Intruded', '_our_ territory', 'We're taking you into custody'. It seemed that his skin was only barely containing exactly what he thought of himself. He made a circle gesture with his hand as he turned around to face the stairs. I was expecting to be shoved forward but to my horror the man on my right pressed a piece of cloth to my mouth. It took a second to register, there was no smell or taste or anything but it was pretty obvious I just got chloroformed. _Oh shit oh shit oh... shiyuhh..._

Light? Noises? What the hell was going-Oh yeah. The memories of what happened had dawned on me. The fight, the guys coming in and the _other_ fight, then the cloth with the chloroform. That fucking cloth.

"Oh thank the fucking Gods you're alright!" A familiar voice came from my right. Sitting up I took in my environment. I was in a fucking jail cell. There was a basic cot with a rickety chair next to it, a toilet, and a sink. High windows lined the walls and doors sat at either end of a long hall giving access to the rest of the building. A man in a suit of impressive armor, maybe it was Kevlar or riot gear, stood across from my cell door. Turning to the voice I saw the motherly face of Toni staring through the bars separating our cells. A few cells down in her direction were full of people. All sorts of people, men, women, blacks, whites, adults, old people and even _children_. These bastards even took children! Well, technically _I'm_ a child, too. I guess I'm not much of one anymore. Being 15 and surviving the apocalypse was hell on your innocence.

"Toni? What the hell?" My head hurt a bit and my thought process was fuzzy at best. An acute pain in my stomach reminded me I was hungry. It must've been a while since we were, well, kidnapped?

"We were kidnapped, kid. I can't tell ya why but we are." I never really thought of kidnapping before now. It was something that happened once every few years where a small child or attractive white woman was taken and ransomed for money, then the media storm, then it's resolved in one way or another. Then the last media storm over the resolution plus memorial segments for a year or so until the next kidnapping. But this was pretty scary. Anything could happen. I might become some sort of brainwashed soldier or even a _slave_. Oh God I'd be a horrible slave. And judging from history bad slaves usually don't live a long happy life. _Think of something, ANYTHING! Anything to take your mind off of this._

"Where is Ed?" I turned to ask Toni. She sighed and pointed to the cell just beyond her. Ed lay unconscious on the floor in a weird position, almost like they just threw him in there. "Jeez, is he gonna be alright?"

"He's taken worse tumbles before. Pretty resilient. I'm more worried about 'you know who'." Mike? Well I've butted heads with people and still had concern for their well-being. Strange how that happens. I rubbed my face and realized that another downside to this whole new planet was, or the lack thereof, basic hygiene. My sideburns were coming in and I could feel little prickles lining my neck and upper lip. Ugh I'm gonna look like those kids who don't even bother to shave. All disgusting and unkempt and scraggly and nasty. On top of that my entire face felt _slimy_. Not so much but just enough that I need a shower. _Holy crap I haven't showered in three months!_

"Do you think they have showers here?" Before Toni could answer the man in the suit of whatever spoke up.

"Not for people like you. Only members get the showers." He returned to his stoic footing and resumed 'guarding' whatever it was he was supposed to guard. Us? Was he supposed to guard us? We're in cages. I doubt anyone could get out here.

"What do you get paid to do around here?" Oh shit. It just slipped out. He stepped over to my cell door and jingled a large ring of keys.

"I don't think I have to answer to some punk little kid. Not when I can kick his ass out into the zombies just as easily." Before things got out of hand a shriek came from down the cell block. In between the bars I could make out a woman screaming at a man who was staggering towards her. _Poor guy must've been infected._ The guard sprinted down the hallway and popped open the cell with the woman and zombie in it. His baton which I just realized he had came down on the zombies skull with a sickening crack. The woman ran out of her cell and closed the door behind her, trapping the guard inside. _Damn, she is clever._ Then there was a ringing noise like a fire alarm and a crowd of five men crowded the hallway pointing an assortment of rifles at the woman. She produced a pistol from somewhere on her person and fired. A bullet tore through a mans skull and another into a mans chest. The remaining three opened fire and reduced the woman to a pulpy lead-ridden mass. Two men entered the cell block and each carried the wounded men through a door. One guard opened the cell door while the remaining two cleaned up the corpses. A grunt from just beyond Toni's cell raised my spirits.

"You missed the show, Ed. A guy turned and- Uh, you know our situation, right?" He looked around in shock, the realization hit him hard. Toni filled him in up until the woman's scream when I butted in to explain it. "...and then she just pulled out a pistol and went BLAM BLAM and this one guy got shot in the head and this other guy got hit right in his chest! Then the other three guys just went all commando on her and now she's somewhere outside. Speaking of outside..." I stood in top of the cot, trying to peer outside and get some sort of position. I saw basic buildings, nothing spectacular. But there was the tell-tale signs of a setting sun. We must be facing west, which means Manhattan is just beyond these buildings. I could even hear the low roar of the infernos that rampaged throughout the city. "Okay then, uh, we're screwed. I dunno where we are."

"Thanks for the hint, Nostradamus." Heh, I bet he never saw this coming. I circled my cell a few times absorbing everything I could. I was in an end cell with not one but _two_ walls of solid concrete and stone. A solid-looking door sat to the right at just the right angle to not let any convicts see out of the room. Must be the same at the other end. I tried to count the exact number of cells and came up with ten altogether. This looks hopeless. For once in my life it really seems hopeless. I sat on the chair in defeat. It creaked before snapping in half and I fell to the floor. Toni laughed like a Hyena and Ed couldn't help but guffaw at my misfortune. Even that prick of a security guard laughed. _Oh joy._

_Obligatory apology's would go here. Once again sorry for taking forever but writers block, it's bad sometimes. Anywho I plan on kicking things in gear, getting this last chunk done, then finally moving on and out of New York. I wont spoil everything but there are major developments and maybe even a real plot coming up! Oh and, happy Halloween!_


	17. Breaking the Chains

_And here it is. Chapter 17. I had to rewrite this so many times to get it just right. And once again on the topic of reviews, one heartfelt review goes a long way. Voice your opinion. Critique my writing, even an idea or two would be nice. I do have the rest planned out but why not throw a curve-ball into things? This whole kidnapped prisoners escapade was one of those "Well, why not?" ideas. Plus I actually reread my story and paved over any typos or plot-holes (the ones that weren't necessary)._

* * *

_SHIT! Shit shit shit SHIT!_ My feet carried me farther and farther down the alleyway. Every door was closed or boarded up, the occasional trash can lay on the ground, maybe a body or two. Though whether or not those bodies would get up was pure chance. The screaming followed me. I _dare_ not turn my head and waste energy. I know I'm absolutely and undeniably _fucked_. My chest started to cramp. My throat burned. My lungs stung almost as if they were popped. I turned my head to glance down another alley, nope, more zombies. My panting grew more and more painful. I knew I should've actually tried during gym, was all I could think. Toni and Ed followed close on my tail.

My heartbeat rang high in my ears only bested by the howls of the surely millions of undead I've riled up. Gunfire erupted above me, not a squad of super soldiers like I'd hoped for but a lone gunman. That lone gunman was our only hope. Funny to think this all started barely an hour ago...

* * *

"Next!" The homely woman slapped some dull green gunk onto my tray. They called this 'lunch' but it could barely be called matter. In fact, this was the first thing we've been given in the way of food. The entire morning consisted of being yelled at, sitting through a speech telling us we're worthless by the same man that captured us, then finally being told that we are now slaves after a lengthy "Physical Aptitude Test" which I failed horribly. Now in the cafeteria we were lined up and told to get, and I quote, "the delicious food we've prepared for you." I thought the lunch at school was bad but this, this was just terrible. Sitting down at an empty table, grimly reminded of my first year at high school, I poked at my food with my finger. I nearly expected it to poke me back when a familiar face sat down in front of me.

"So how's this workin' out for ya?" Toni asked. She scooped some of the gunk into her mouth and grimaced.

"Well the pay sucks, hours are horrific, and I'm pretty sure if we do anything wrong we'd get shot. But I'm gaining experience. My resume will be _glowing_ after this." Toni gave a small smile but it was short lived as one of the guards hauled her out of her seat. I was about to stand up but then a massive rumble shook the entire building throwing most of us to our feet. The guards were waving around their rifles trying to keep us orderly but another massive explosion sent waves of panic and hysteria throughout the room. People started screaming and running in all directions. Guards were firing rounds into the ceiling possibly trying to get their attention but it was only adding to the chaos. A few of the more vigorous prisoners swarmed a guard and took his rifle and pistol. _Now that I think of it I've never been in a prison riot before. Oh like it matters. _A pistol flew out of the mob of people and landed at my feet, beckoning me to grab it. In one graceless motion I nabbed it off the ground as one of the walls was reduced to crumbs of brick and concrete. Almost immediately a chorus of shrieks and moans erupted from beyond the hole. _Well shit._

I ran for the main double doors knocking over a guard in the process and probably elbowing someone in the jaw. I turned to see Toni close behind me and with a new wind I sprinted down the hallway. Any soreness from his morning's events melted away. Although it was probably the adrenaline and energy from the explosion. People in front of me were torn down by a hail of bullets. I skidded to my right into an office with Toni just as a bullet whizzed past my ear. I ran into a desk and looked back, another small group of people were ventilated by bullets. After all this time blowing the undead back to their graves the killing of innocent _living_ humans still twisted my stomach. I covered my mouth with my hand, it felt like what little I managed to eat was going to come out. I felt a hand grab me and pull me down behind a desk.

Good thing, too. Three armed guards ran down the hallway firing assault rifles. I turned to Toni, her eyes were wide but determined.

"What're we gonna do? We gotta get out of here. No, shit, we gotta find Ed first." My mind was one big jumble of objectives and plans. It seemed like the way back to the cells was blocked by armed guards. The cafeteria was a bloodbath with both the dead and the undead.

"Yes, yes. We need to find Ed and get back to the depot. Though I doubt that's even possible. We could be anywhere." Maybe we could get through the wall. Maybe the guards left. Maybe, maybe, maybe...

"The wall?" Toni gave me an incredulous look. A second later she realized what I meant and slowly moved to the wall across from the door. Bullets flew down the hallway from both directions now, an occasional thud and scream thrown in for dramatic effect. Then a loud click and the sound of creaking.

"You're a bloody genius, Sean." She held open a small door that must've been disguised as a panel with a glorious smile soon shared by me. I crawled through after her and looked around, it was another office but the entrance was clear as far as I could tell.

"Oh, thanks Toni." Turning back to the panel I saw guards run down the hallway shooting and one throw a grenade. _Really? Grenades? _I clicked the panel back into place. Hopefully no one would come following us. Toni was half-way out the door scouting the hallway. She gave the all-clear and we moved in the general direction of the cell block. Loud footsteps thundered closer and Toni slammed me into the wall. What must've been a platoon of men ran past us. "Oh holy shit that was too close."

"We gotta keep movin'. We'll count our blessin's later." Toni grabbed my wrist again and pulled me down another hall of offices. At the end was a solid steel door with a grate and a staircase on the right. We slowed and Toni tried the door while I looked through the grate. All I could see was empty cells with their doors open.

"Hey! HEY! Anyone there?" I heard movement far to the right. Toni kicked the doorknob in one final attempt to get it open. To my relief Ed's voice floated over.

"Finally someone remembered me. I'm trapped in my cell, the door over here's wide open. Any chance of you's getting' through that door?" I told him it didn't look that way and he sighed. Toni went through a few offices looking for a weapon or two. "Figures. Maybe if you can get to the other side-"

"Yeah no chance of that. Mass of soldiers and undead that way. By the way you see anything?" He explained the scene. Lots of bodies, maybe a walker or two, possibly a mutie, and no soldiers. "Okay, maybe if we can make it over there we can getcha out."

"Excellent, perfect. But don't kill yourselves tryna save my ass." Toni tapped my shoulder and handed me a small pistol. She produced another pistol for herself along with a few scattered rounds in her pants pocket. The stairs turned to the right and we went up against the wall. Toni darted around the corner and motioned for me to follow. Upstairs was more offices, the occasional dead raider peppered our path. But so far no zombies, which was strange. Very strange. _Was the jail being attacked by humans? Is this all part of some gang fight?_

An explosion rocked the building and the floor in front of us fell into a flaming abyss.

"JESUS CHRIST!" I screamed as I jumped back into Toni. Flames licked upwards with the hands of the undead that piled on top of each other to reach us. Needless to say the smell was horrific. We turned back and went down another hallway. I was about to turn the corner when bullets nearly took half my face off. A gruff voice came from the same person I imagine shot the gun.

"Stop right there criminal scum! I'm not letting you get outta here!" Another burst of gunfire erupted from the crazed man followed by the sound of clashing metal and a few clicks. Toni peaked out of the wall and fired 3 shots at the man. A pained scream and the clattering of metal was enough to make me jump from out of cover. It was the man who kidnapped us, but now sporting a nasty red spot in his gut. _He probably wont survive a day with that wound._ Toni ran up and kicked the mans gun over to the hallway running perpendicular to the one we were in. I walked up to the man, wary of any tricks he might have. _I really better make this count._

"Funny, I thought I might actually spend an entire 24 hours here. Who the hell are you anyway to be lording over us?" He looked me in the eye with pure rage. A smile crossed his lips as a fine foam trickled out of the corners of his mouth. Then his eyes went wide and even more foam spilled out of his mouth. Revolting noises reminiscent of choking emanated from his mouth before he fell to the ground motionless. "Toni, what the fuck. What the fuck."

"I'd bet my money on a cyanide pill. This psycho must've been with the government."

"With the government?" I asked incredulously, "How can, no, _why_ should a psycho be drafted into the government for-for whatever he was doing?" I would've loved an answer but the floor shook with the sound of another explosion and I could feel it begin to give way. Toni and I sprinted for the hallway with her picking up the gun before making the final dash to a stairwell. Flying down the stairs we found the hallway we were lead down and consecutively partially chased down now filled with walkers of all shapes and sizes and more blood than a low-budget zombie film. They could afford a lot of blood but not exactly much else.

"Hey! Over here morons!" To our left was the same metal door standing ajar leading back to the cells. Toni began firing into the crowd of walkers and ducked behind a make-shift barricade from the earlier struggle. I ran into the cell room and found Ed's cell lock. It wasn't professionally installed, far from it. A simple locker lock was all that was keeping him from freedom. I shot it pint blank and it fell to the ground. When Ed came out he grabbed my gun and ran for Toni. I would've complained but we had more pressing matters to attend to. In the hallway Toni and Ed were picking off what infected they could. I was searching for a way out. So far the hallway to our left was filled with flaming debris, behind us and to our right was a solid concrete wall, but before us lay a horde of zombies and beyond that a massive hole in a wall.

"Try to keep them off your backs and we can run for that hole over there!" Ed didn't even take his eyes off the horde to tell me it was a stupid idea. Toni was much more optimistic.

"You got any other plans Ed? We should just fucking run while we can!" She took off for the far wall plowing through the undead like they were stalks of corn. I followed after and Ed was soon behind me. The dead grabbed for us, one nearly managed to get a handful of my hair which encouraged me to keep my head down and just focus on running. Cold clammy hands slammed, scratched, and swung at me from all directions. There is nothing really like running through a crowd of undead cannibals. One last push and I met up with Toni and Ed at the far end of a sandy courtyard. Tall fences lined the perimeter except for a portion blown apart by some type of explosive. Many, many zombies were prowling the street in front of the police station but alleyways that lead from the station were mostly empty, or so I thought.

* * *

One shot, two shots, three, ten, a million, it didn't matter. Zombies were coming from any and all directions aside form in front of us. Whenever one managed to stumble in our path its head was vaporized by our guardian angel on top of that building. It was huge, a large portion was brick but yellow corrugated steel covered parts of it. The windows were very high up, a perfect place to recuperate. The building was getting closer and closer until I saw an emergency door painted bright red on its wall. In no time I threw my entire body weight into the door and fell into a damp dark cavern. Toni and Ed soon followed and closed the door, locking and barring it. Toni said something to Ed and he laughed. My head was swimming in adrenaline and all I could focus on was my throbbing body and our surroundings. Without my glasses things were quite fuzzy but what I saw made me nearly pee.

"When the fuck did the depot get here?" I shouted. Toni and Ed started howling with laughter and I couldn't help but join in. We were safe! Finally home and safe! At least as safe as one could get. I walked up the familiar stairs and into the office. Toni and Ed came in afterward and we all sat down. Toni was the first to speak.

"Okay, we're safe, but a little light in armaments. Plus we're down one man. We need to reorganize and figure out what the hell to do." The sound of a thick metal hatch opening made everyone look to the door. A thin frame appeared in the door and raised many relieved expressions and gasps. Mike had somehow managed to escape the kidnappers and get back to the depot. Not only did he get back but he also covered us on our way back and managed to scrape a few weapons together. Granted it was a far cry from our old armory of weapons but it was certainly enough to go out there and get something done. It might have been the sweltering heat affecting my brain but Mike looked almost like a divine gift sent to protect us. Toni jumped up and ran over to him locking him in a hug and screaming at him for not rescuing us sooner. Ed was still in his chair but you could see that he was ecstatic with Mike's return. After a long winded apology from Toni she finished,"...and now apologize to Sean for bein' a dick."

"I'm sorry for being a dick, Sean." He said sounding like an insincere child. But I knew he was just doing it for dramatic effect and accepted. "Now can we actually go and get this shit? I swear we never get anything done. Next thing you know we'll be abducted by aliens."

* * *

A/N: I promise I'll never have aliens in this story. They are a good explanation for plot-holes but it'd be ridiculous and add even more things to explain to the story. Anyway have a fun and safe Thanksgiving because I certainly wont get a chapter out before then!

Oh and a review would be nice...


	18. Master Baiter

Breathing in the fresh air wasn't as easy as it used to be. The air tasted like charcoal today. The wind was coming from the west sending massive clouds of ash over Kings and Queens. It even affected the sunlight coming through, it was perpetual twilight for the last three days. I sat on top of some large metal box on the roof of the depot admiring the view. But one odd thing was that the amount of gunfire gradually increased until a massive explosion ripped a large chunk of JFK apart. You could see the smoke and flames all the way from our small hovel. But all of the fire and brimstone paled in comparison to the heat. By now it must be the 20th or 25th of June. Maybe as late as July. I know I turned 16 within the last week or two but I told no one. I didn't see the reason to do so. Most of my birthdays ended in ruin, whether it be someone getting hurt or me finding something to complain over.

"Alright quit bein' dramatic, we need to get goin'. Today's gonna be a hell of a day." Toni's words reminded me what we had planned. Basically today we were going to find a car or a truck to get the generator and other things from the warehouse. I slid off of my perch on a large ventilation unit and followed her along the edge of the building. It was dark but you could see that there was a fair crowd of a few hundred undead prowling the streets. We'd have to go by roof if we wanted a chance of surviving. We had most of it planned out, first we descended down onto the townhouses, then used ropes and hooks to make it closer to the warehouse before we nab a car, then we enter the building and clear it out if that's even possible, then grab the stuff and drive back. It was very bare, very basic, and we'd be lucky if no one died. 

Toni majestically climbed down to the roof of a neighboring townhouse followed by me and Ed, then Mike jumped down the sheer 20 foot drop to join us. Walking and hopping on the rooftops wasn't as perilous as I thought. We were only walking but keeping good time and even managed to strike up a good conversation once in a while.

"No no no, there are _mutated _zombies, _running _zombies, and _walking_ zombies. The one you saw had to be just another mutie." Mike was waving his hands around trying to make a point.

"No, I'm tellin' ya that there's a whole 'nother dimension to these things. You of all people'd know that the SWAT guys were called in right? Yeah, so imagine one got bit. Now we have armored zombies walkin' around makin' things difficult. So now we got _armored_ zombies." I had to admit, it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine that.

"Well what if you became a zombie. I bet you'd screw up any plans by sneaking in and telling them to go on suicide missions. Then getting locked in a cage and having them rescue you, if what Toni told me was correct." Mike gave a side-long glance at Toni while Ed pretended to punch him. "AGH! Someone help! Ed's turned into a zombie!" Dodging another fake jab he continued to taunt. "By my observations this one doesn't know shit and picks fights with pacifist intellectuals!" Ed gave a chuckle and sprinted for him. Mike ran towards the edge but turned at the last second and Ed curved his route to tackle him into a roof access stairwell forcing Toni to scold them like two rambunctious children. Apologizing, they both returned to walking across the roofs until we hit our first street.

It was barely 20 feet across but hanging upside-down on a rope dangling above a horde of zombies isn't anything to shake a stick at. After another row of buildings the street was clear enough to drop down to from the fire escapes. After following a highway for an hour or so we found a truck that was perfect for what we were planning to move. Except that it didn't have any gas.

"You're kidding me. No gas? Nothing to siphon? Absolutely _no_ gas?" I asked, panic edging into my voice. If we're stuck out here we're as good as dead.

"No no don't worry, there's gotta be a gas station nearby." Toni put a hand over her eyes to block the sun as she looked around. Ed and Toni were searching the cars for gas and whatever valuables the people left behind. I was inclined to go scavenging too but an excited gasp from Toni scrapped those plans. "Hey! There's people over there!"

Before anyone could say anything she started screaming and making a general ruckus. Bullets started popping and a few impacted on the cars nearby sending us to the ground. Toni cursed our luck before opening fire on the people. Raiders? I guess they're really supposed to be called raiders. Ed and Mike soon followed suit and returned fire. I did what I could with a small pistol, occasionally leaning out of cover to get a good shot. I saw three people begin firing but it sounded like we were up against a lot more people.

"Great idea Toni! Scream like a lunatic at the first people we see who didn't try to kidnap us! **NOW THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL US**!" Mike shouted at the top of his lungs from behind a derelict ambulance. Toni and Ed managed to sneak behind a news van. A bullet pinged off of the car I was hidden behind and sent a wave of fear throughout my body. But this fear only motivated me to fire back, catching a man in the leg. Now I count four men including the one I wounded. Ed fired from his shotgun and caught another right in the chest, killing him. Mike let loose with his pistol and caught a tall man in his jaw, tearing most of his face off. The last man was finished off by Toni who tore his torso open with sub-machine gun fire. Ed skirted around the van to look for more raiders but he signaled the all clear and we began to go through their belongings.

I found a decent jacket, a switchblade, and a packet of cigarettes. I'll just keep these for trading, I'd never start especially that tobacco wont be easy to come by until some serious step are taken to return to the way things were. Toni found a pair of boots she was quite fond of while Ed and Mike were arguing over a mans gun. It looked like any old assault rifle but Ed and Mike were really going at it over the gun. The best I could tell it was an M16, sort of like the one from Grand Theft Auto. I was fine with a pistol or two but they really seemed bent on getting the better weapon. Toni sauntered over and grabbed the assault rifle throwing it into a dense grove of trees and bushes.

"There ya go, have at it." Mike and Ed glanced at each other before taking off, kicking and shoving all the way. "Those two, sometimes they just, ugh." She muttered to herself as she walked past me. We continued to the warehouse keeping an eye out for another truck we could use. Ed and Mike kept bickering like old ladies over the gun claiming who saw it first, who touched it first, and who wanted it the most until Toni threatened to call out at the next group of people we see. We encountered few zombies on our way until an overpass blocked our way.

I can't explain how, I doubt anyone could, but a train, at least a hundred cars and trucks, plus an airplane and a boat managed to converge on one unfortunate overpass. To make things plain and simple we couldn't get past it without leaving the highway basin. Up along the highway were small shops and boutiques selling things ranging from cheap bags to fake jewelry. Toni read a street sign and told us to stop.

"Ah fuckin' bloody fantastic we went the wrong way." She gave a loud groan and set the map on the hood of a car. We all crowded around her as she explained that we made a wrong turn near the highway and followed it too far. I don't know how it slipped her mind that we were heading in the wrong direction for _hours_. But we were close to JFK, strange how life works out sometimes. After a short 'inspirational' tirade by Mike we were off for JFK and the snowplow.

"Over the highway and through the alleyways to the snowplows house we go!" I said trying to get a laugh as we trudged down another stretch of highway. Like many other spur-of-the-moment things it fell flat. The sun was, as best as I could tell, high in the sky. But it was getting much darker, the clouds hung even lower.

"So where exactly is this snowplow?" I asked. Ed explained that he saw it on the news during the outbreak and doubted anyone would've move it. "Alright, so we just gotta drive it back. I mean, how bad could things be?"

Oh boy it was bad at JFK. The main terminal, or at least the main central area wrapped inside the runways, was a smoldering mass of steel and concrete. We hopped the fence out onto a large tarmac strip lined with hangars. Ed said the truck was somewhere by a train station because he, "could hear these ringin' noises and the train goin' and stuff." A 747 sat in its hangar, most likely to sit there for a few hundred years before being used as scrap metal for a growing post-apocalyptic empire, or more likely to be piloted by a dumbass and sent into the nearest terminal when his master plan to escape failed spectacularly. Past a few more hangars was an elevated rail section. Hopefully this meant we were close.

After turning a corner around some fuel tanks I felt a hand grab me by the collar and cover my mouth. Thankfully it was just Toni but her eyes betrayed the sense of pure fear pulsing through her body. Both Ed and Mike were hiding within the fuel tanks with a mix of horrified and anxious looks. Just over the sound of my own heartbeat I heard it. Moaning of all sorts of pitches and intensities carried along the wind and down into a pit in my stomach.

"Maybe we can get on top," I said quietly, "or slip around or something. We're fucked taking them on the ground." A few head shakes and moments of deep thought passed before Ed climbed up to get a better look.

"Hey, there's a military camp over by those hangars. I bet they got somethin' to help us out." He pointed to a partially collapsed hanger with the tail of a plane sticking out of it. But more importantly there was the olive drab green of a military tent knocked on the ground. But in order to get to there we'd have to cross into the line of sight of the infected.

"We're gonna need a distraction if we wanna get over there." I stated. "Anyone feel like playing hero and distracting them?" Toni glanced at Mike, then to Ed, then they all shot knowing glances at each other before giving me devious glares.

I found myself outfitted as one of those people who guide planes with cones. Sort of ironic that I'd be guiding the dead in this get-up.

"Alright, now you'll be runnin' past 'em screamin' like a banshee and we go get the stuff from the military camp. Then you circle 'round and meet back up with us and we get the snowplow and get back to base." Toni tried to sound encouraging but it only convinced me that we were a desperate band of survivors more than ever. I shrugged telling her I'll do my best. "Now go on, try not to get your ass bit, yeah?"

A gust of wind blew a newspaper in my face as soon as I stepped out. After tearing it I saw exactly what we were dealing with. Maybe a few hundred yards in front of me was the Air Train station, scattered news vans and military vehicles stuck out above a horde of barely 20 shuffling ghouls. All that drama over 20 walkers? They hadn't even noticed me yet. This was just pathetic.

"Guys calm down, there's barely twenty of 'em, we can handle this. Shit, one of us can handle this!" I shouted. A few undead took notice of me screaming and began to shuffle over. Then a few more. Soon, a whole lot more than 20 were shambling closer. Upwards of 200 appeared out of all sorts of nooks and crannies between the vehicles and train station. One was coming up on me about 10 yards away before I shot it through the nasal cavity. "Okay fine! Maybe I miscounted! You guys follow through, I'll lead them over to that overpass! Try not to die!"

I jogged over to a line of hedges bordering the airport from the loopy highway network and turned back to see a massive crowd following me. Ducking between a few abandoned cars I sprinted up a hill to see even more hangars and some sort of canal or river with a boat in it. Down through another line of hedges and through a parking lot I continued to the shoreline. The boat was a regular cabin-cruiser loaded with boxes of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Probably a failed escape attempt. This must be just one of the millions of empty supplies-laden vehicles just sitting out there.

"Maybe I could swim out there and start it up to get away... No, no, that's crazy and I'll probably get swamped or killed or something terrible. Or maybe I could just start it up and use it as a distrac-" A gurgling scream that sounded too close for comfort made up my mind for me. Stepping down the hill carefully but quickly I made my way to the shore line. Down a barren road and through a dense line of trees I stopped at the end of the pier closest to the boat. Looking back I could hear the moans and groans of the undead. Down below me murky water obscured the bottom of the canal. Light waves lapped up against the pier producing a hypnotic rhythm that nearly made me forget what I was doing. Without much second-thought I dove in to the water.

"Oh my _God_ this is _disgusting_!" I shouted when I surfaced. I'm lucky there aren't any zombies in the water though. But still, this was fucking disgusting. The water had the consistency of oil and whatever sand or dirt I was standing on was slippery and slimy. The murky water came up to my ribs before being entirely too deep to wade in. I dove forward and began thrashing for the boat. I was barely 5 feet from it and closing in when I felt a tug at my foot. The first one was slight, could've been a branch or something, but the second and third tugs, both felt an awful lot like a certain hungry undead predator that doesn't need to breathe had managed to wrap a finger up in my shoelaces. I sunk under the water and unleashed unbridled fury with my other foot connecting with something squishy. A hand grabbed my calf before I slipped out of my shoe and broke the surface gasping for air. Now I was pretty much besides the boat and I climbed in.

The deck had many small crates and jugs of water scattered about. A dried out looking corpse sat in the captains seat with a dark purple goo dripping from the back of their skull. It looked male but after this long in the open you couldn't be too sure what a body used to be. I skirted past the corpse and searched the dashboard for a set of keys. Searching up above and through all sorts of drawers and bags I found nothing.

"Dammit!" I punched the steering wheel in frustration. Down below in the cabin I heard some rustling and a bump which was curtly followed by moaning and banging against the small cabin door. "Oh fantastic."

The undead were on my tail, there were no keys, and now I have to fight a zombie in a cramped space. Out of desperation I fired a few shots from my pistol into the cabin, hoping one of them would find their mark and take out the zombie with as little contact as possible. The Gods must be smiling on me today as the banging stopped abruptly and the zombie fell to the floor with a dull thump. Something inside me urged me to open the door into the cabin.

It was like a nightmare. One zombie, a man in his late 40's wearing a sports coat and slacks, managed to trap 5 other people in the cabin and devoured all of them. Dried blood, well-rotted flesh, and disgusting entrails coated the walls and the floor. One whiff of the stale air and I threw my head over the edge of the boat and vomited what little food I've managed to consume. But through the muscle spasms and faint burn in my nostrils I knew I had to wade through the mess and find the boat keys.

Taking a few deep breaths I returned to the cabin door and covered my mouth with my arm. My feet made squishing sounds as I stepped through the small cabin and began going through the mans' pockets. The smell was becoming unbearable. I heard a small jingle and my hopes soared. I fished through a jacket pocket and pulled out a set of keys. One was for a car, another few for houses and businesses, and finally a small golden key that looked awfully similar to the key my grandpa used to start his boat. I guess I'm lucky that I have a few years of experience with boats. Stepping out of the cabin with a jovial smile I stood in front of the body and inserted the key. Twisting it made the engine sputtered to life for a moment before puttering out. Flicking a few gauges I saw that the boat was low on fuel and the pressure was abnormally low.

"God you piece of _shit_!" I kicked the console and a sharp pain roared up my leg. If someone was watching me from afar I bet they'd be laughing right now. Selfish bastard's not even helping me then. Sloshing noises came from the shore and I saw the horde that originally surround the train station has finally caught up with me.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh fucking shit." I paced around the boat before standing my the outboard motor. "Wait a minute..." This little round thing, whatever it was, you pump it to make the gas circulate or something. I quickly grabbed it and squeezed until my hand hurt. A zombie managed to get up to the boat and started to gently pound on it from under the waves. Ignoring the pleading moans and hands of the undead I tried the motor again.

It sputtered, kicked a bit, then slowly chocked and puttered to silence.

"WHY THE FUCK WON'T YOU-" The engine started up before I could even finish my sentence. Moving with speed and grace totally uncharacteristic of me I gunned the throttle and sped down the waterway and onwards to freedom.

** As much as I love this story, and where it's most likely going, I can't help but feel a lack of motivation. But to be honest I'm so excited to write the later parts that making it through this will be more or less finished by... well factoring in my laziness probably February or March 2012. Funny thing is I planned to be done by New Years but that's not happening. Anywho happy non-specific holidays and happy New Year!**

** Oh, and an obligatory "Read and Review" plea would go here.**


	19. Jetsetting

The boat shuddered with every wave I slammed in to. Metal locks and wooden seats clacked and groaned in protest. If this was my boat I'd probably care but since I'm sharing it with seven dead bodies I couldn't care less. I turned the boat outwards to the south and skirted along the western tip of some bundle of runways and hangars before turning back to the coastline. I gradually slowed the boat down and prepared to beach it. I mean, it's no use having a boat when there's no gas left and you'll be on land for the remainder of your life. The boat hit the waves hard sending harsh shudders through the entire boat before hitting something so hard I lost my grip and fell into the crusty dead body in the captain's chair behind me.

"Oh God oh God oh my fucking God." I stood up as fast as I could to get a hold of the wheel but it was too late. The boat hit the beach at 30 miles per hour and sent me forward into the wheel before collapsing down to the floor. The boat skidded up and onto the runway with the propeller spinning uselessly on the tarmac and sending shards out in all directions. I stood up in a haze, vaguely feeling a wetness on my back. Looking down at the corpse I say a massive indentation in the chest cavity and a thick syrupy goo oozing from multiple broken points of skin.

"Well, that's the end of this hoodie." I shed one of the few things I had left of the old world and gingerly stepped off the boat. Looking around I could only see the flaming terminal, the flaming city, and some flashing lights down the runway.

"Wait a minute..." Watching the pattern of lights grow closer and slightly farther apart I could tell it was a plane heading my way awfully fast. But who would fly a plane now? How did they find it let alone get it ready to fly? So many questions will just have to deal with being unanswered.

Now in all honesty I've always loved airplanes. Sleek and graceful, circling the globe at ridiculous speeds. I guess it's some sort of deep-seated fascination with giant metal monsters with screaming flaming engines. The plane was closing in. I could see it speeding ever closer to the end of the runway. Flaps up, gear down, it was going to take off whether or not fate would let it. I jogged over to the side of the runway that bordered the ocean and stood waiting. It might seem odd, especially in this situation, but I wanted to see it take off. It's painfully obvious that there wont be many planes taking off in the foreseeable future. Might as well watch while I can, Lord knows there wont be many more opportunities.

Finally the lights gingerly left the ground and the high whine of the jets met my ears. It grew progressively louder until I could identify the model and livery of the plane. It was indeed an A380 decorated in the sky blue Korean Air color. The plan came closer and closer at an alarming speed. When the plane was only a hundred yards away from me it began to tilt up just in time to miss the beached boat on the tarmac. Just as it looked like the plane would take off though the underbelly caught on the boat and sent visible shudders through the metal frame. A gust of wind from the fuming jet engines nearly sent me tumbling but with some clever footwork I managed to stay out of the mud. The plane then turned towards the terminal in the vain hope it could still take off

It careened towards the flaming terminal as the engines whined ever louder. I could see the nose to the plane climb ever so slightly followed by the rear landing gear lifting off the ground only to have the aft-left landing gear torn off by the edge of the flaming terminal. Then through the smoke I saw the plane dip to the left and disappear behind a low collection of buildings. I could've sworn I heard a low explosion and flames but that thought was dashed as the plane soared up and over a small copse of trees. The wings dipped and swerved as the ailerons flipped back and forth before the pilot finally regained control and began gaining altitude.

I stood there for what felt like hours. The small collection of lights grew smaller and smaller as they disappeared through the impenetrable black smoke. A loud honk zipped me back to reality. There was a massive truck heading right for me. Attached to its front was a large yellow snow plow and reflective tape. It began to slow and I could see Ed driving the massive beast with Toni in the middle and Mike sitting in the far passengers seat coddling some kind of radio. He pulled up next to me and Mike kicked his door open.

"Holy shit he survived," Mike said full of an acrimonious glee, "I owe you ten bucks Toni." Toni lightly smacked his head before throwing a long black assault rifle at me. It looked like some sort of sniper rifle from the more modern war movies. Sometimes I really wished I was more knowledgeable about guns. I stepped up into the truck and sat in between Toni and Mike. Needless to say it was a tight fit.

"Did you guys just see that plane over there?" I pointed a finger at the slowly shrinking collection of lights.

"Kinda hard to miss if you ask me." Mike sank back into his seat and looked out the window observing the scenery. We were passing a security checkpoint when I spoke up.

"Why don't you like being called Michael?" He glanced at me and sighed before slipping his hands between his legs.

"Well, that's what my parents called me. As you can imagine I hate my parents." Okay that's kind of sad. Who can hate their parents? Oh, well, yeah people can hate their parents. Plenty of people do. But they must've done something to deserve that.

"What on earth could they've done to warrant that?" Mike crossed his arms and sighed heavily before leaning on the window and staring at the passing environment. Toni put her hand on my shoulder and started to say something.

"Some things are better left undisturbed." At Toni's words Mike perked up and defended himself.

"No, no, it's perfectly fine, Toni. I guess it was inevitable I'd have to explain it," He took a deep breath and began. "My father, he was never really around. Always busy with that _company_ of his. He never took the time to read what I wrote or look at what I drew, neither would my mom. She was always wallowing in a pit of whiskey. Too preoccupied with distracting herself from reality to see her son needed her. Of course they both dropped whatever they were doing when my sister accomplished something. When she win at the science fair, when her grades came in, when she took an unusually large _shit_, they never paid attention to me. I know for a fact she'd spread her legs for any guy who bumped into her on the street. My parents never knew but she brought in a different guy every week. Shit, it's a miracle she managed to make it through college without getting knocked up. But what really stuck into my side was the fact she was hired barely a month out by our father. Then she became the _Head of Neurosciences _or something ridiculous like that. I don't even think she went to college for that! But no, she'd fit right in with that damn company of his."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt but what company?" He glared at me with a burning anger. It wasn't directed at me, however, it was at his family.

"Amgen Bio-pharmaceuticals," He practically spat the name.

"Oh, well I don't know them." But they sound terrifying.

"No, you wouldn't. They aren't as much of a 'big and public' sort of company like Johnson & Johnson. They basically spend their time swimming in federal funds jerking each other off. All I hear of them is breakthroughs, net gains and bailout skirting, whatever that is. I remember on New Years they were babbling about regulations and ethical boundaries or some shit. I spoke to a psychologist not too long ago too, he told me everything I do stems from their ignorance of me. My enrollment, apartment, even my _friends_, all of it to spite my family." The cab was silent for a while before Ed finally spoke.

"Well, what happened to them?" Mike sighed again, maybe trying to let some of his anger flow out.

"Last I heard they were flying on their jet to some crappy Mediterranean island. They had time to wait for my sisters douche bag husband but not for me, no they didn't. Their plane was just about to take off when I sprinted to the runway being chased by the cops. I managed a glimpse at the window and..." He chocked a little sob, "They left me, they just left me. He looked me right in the eye and... left me."

Mike began to well up, probably about to start crying before taking a few deep breaths. Toni stretched her hand and patted his back a few times.

"See? Now that we talked about it, you feel better, yeah?" He let out a few more restricted sobs and nodded. The truck continued down side roads and through alleys for an hour before Ed spoke up again.

"I'm starvin'. Anyone else starvin'? We should have a giant dinner when we get back." I was pretty starved to be honest, it was barely noticeable but I heard my stomach grumble at the mention of food.

"Jesus, ranting about deep-seated mental abuse makes me hungry!" Mike shouted, all evidence of his previous emotions melted away to a face of contentedness. "Oh! Can we go to McDonald's?"

"If you keep your mouth shut then maybe, _maybe_, we'll get you a happy meal." Toni said in a stern yet distinctly cheery tone. Seemed like things were getting back to normal. The car ride continued on through street after street, industrial compounds turned into run-down tenements which gradually faded into row-houses and small shops. Partially obscured by an overgrown tree the obnoxiously colored sign for McDonald's came into view and Mike tried to keep up the jovial childlike persona. Probably some sort of coping mechanism. "Guys! Guys! There it is! McDonald's! Toni you said I could have a Happy Meal if I-"

"Holy shit will you quit it with the kid thing? Sometimes you get so damn carried away I think yer never gonna come out." Ed stated firmly. Mike gave another one of his I-admit-defeat sighs and slid back into his seat. I rested my head on the glass watching as block after block rolled past. Street names, business signs, and the occasional zombie or two were the only things of note. It's a real shame how things ended. I'd have thought we'd all die by some sort of meteor or atomic hellfire in some gleaming future that was just imperfect enough to allow itself to die off. But no, here we are in crappy old 2011 with a bunch of crappy zombies and some crappy disease. No more movies, no more shows, no more music. Until things get back to normal in about a hundred years or so. By then the zombies should've rotted away enough or society would be on the offensive, at least in my mind. Maybe we'd bounce back fast enough for me to see it. Maybe we'd never actually bounce back. Who knew? I sure as hell don't.

Something bright caught my eye as we drove past an elevated train station. I squinted a bit to get a better view but it disappeared as fast as it came. Not thinking much of it I closed my eyes and day-dreamed of a glorious future with flying cars and tall buildings and no zombies. Just as I started to nod off (which was pretty quickly for some reason) the truck swerved into a clogged bank of cars. Then a loud pop came from behind us. Followed by another pop and the sound of impacted metal. Another pop and a hole blasted through the back to the truck barely grazing my hair. I yelped and shoved my head between my knees as more bullets impacted the truck. Soon the shooting stopped and I dared to raise my head to look around.

Toni was ducking in a similar fashion but a small trickle of blood could be seen on her hands. Mike managed to dive under the console and took a breath of relief when the shooting stopped. I turned to Ed when he gave a loud yell of pain. His right upper arm looked like a crimson waterfall sourced from a large gash cutting away some flesh.

"Holy shit! We need to get out of here! We need to get that sniper! We need to _do something_!" I shouted. A snarl came from outside as three walkers besieged the truck. More bullets rained upon us from our unseen assailant, one catching a zombie in the neck spraying vertebrae and trachea on the car we collided with before it fell down. Mike grabbed Ed and shoved him down where he was before flipping it into reverse and driving us under the train tracks. He twisted the keys to idle and Toni pulled Ed out from under the console and made a makeshift tourniquet out of a bandana tied to the rear-view mirror which was coincidentally the same shade of red as Ed's blood.

We sat there, completely silent, for a whole minute before a shambler came up to the drivers side window and began pawing at us. Mike maneuvered over Toni and Ed and put it down before it could do much else. As he was rolling up the window a man, clearly in his twilight years and wearing a torn tuxedo, came down the stairs and fired at us. Bullet after bullet punctured the side of the truck and through the glass before the man reloaded. I heard footsteps quickly approaching and reflexes kicked in as I raised my pistol and fired at the man. A bullet flew by his head and another at his feet as he ran back behind a 1990's Toyota. Toni took the hint and fired at the man with her submachine gun as the man cursed in a raspy voice.

I kicked the passenger door open and stepped out shooting another walker as it stumbled forward. I crouched behind the rear wheel and fired a few shots at the man before he returned fire and caught the spot right under the tire. Toni fired again with her SMG and the man cried out in pain. No more shooting followed so I assumed it was safe and jumped out. Now ordinarily that would've gotten me killed but this time I got lucky and the man was really down. Toni jogged over to him and I followed, wary of a surprise.

I turned to see the man, he was much older than I previously thought, grab for something in his breast pocket. To my amazement and horror he pulled out a small green device with square indentations along its surface. I could tell a grenade when I saw one.

"You'll... never get me... you... communists." He let out a dry breath and the grenade rolled from his hands. Toni and I dove for cover but no explosion followed. I sat there behind a white delivery van awaiting shrapnel to impact everything and probably whiz through my head with a lucky shot. But eventually Toni's words put my fears to rest.

"Ha! The ol' fucker forgot to pull the pin! Ain't that a riot!" I gave a few humorless laughs out of kindness but my inner scavenger wanted to go see what the old man had up in his little hidey-hole. I took the first flight of stairs at Toni's protest but after a little whining and reminding her we're hungry she returned to the truck to get things in order. The man, as crazy as he might've been, had a pretty nice thing going up there though. He blew the tracks to make a small island, had the gates down, and even had a 3-car train sitting in the station. After rooting through the small hideout it was apparent the man attacked us hoping we had food. Well too bad for him we didn't have any.

I looked out at the horizon. A golden ball sat on the edge of the sky radiating all shades of red and yellow abruptly fading into blues and blacks near the top of the sky before becoming pitch black over to the east. Time was short, we need to get back before dark or else we'll be lost and more than likely run down somewhere and torn to shreds. A feeling or urgency ran through me as I jogged down the stairs and over to the truck. A small collection of bodies littered the area around the truck and more walkers appeared form the woodwork of local stores and began to shamble towards us. I kept a quick pace and slid back into my old seat next to Mike but this time Toni was driving. Ed sat in the middle mostly silent except for the occasional grunt.

Toni started the truck and drove onwards back to the depot. On the way we saw a downed helicopter, still flaming, a man who hung himself from a telephone pole long ago and was grotesquely stretched, and finally another mutie, this one looked like the one that attacked us in the sports shop but it was on the ground shaking. We didn't wait around much longer to find out what freakish powers this one had. Just as the sun disappeared behind the burning facade of Manhattan the depot came into sight. Mike hopped out, after gracelessly tripping over me, and opened one of the large sheet metal doors and the truck pulled in.

An hour later we were all in the break room. Ed had a proper bandage on his wound and Toni, who was grazed by the bullet on her scalp, was more or less forced to wear her bandages and to take it easy until we were entirely sure she wasn't concussed. We had a meager dinner of Pop-Tarts and scavenged water bottles. Before I finally drifted off to dreamland a refreshing breeze blew through an open window and reminded me of more peaceful times.

**So that's it so far, expect another four or five chapters, maybe up to 25 in total, until the end of this chunk. Yes, there's more. 2/3's more to be relatively close. Also special thanks to A Drunken Canadian and one Night Carnival who reviewed! Once again sorry for the slow updates but I still can't find the switch to turn my creativity on.**


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